


A Stitch in Time

by MiladyDragon



Series: Dragon-Verse: Series Two [9]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Angst, Dragon-Verse, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-09-05
Packaged: 2017-11-26 21:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the time of year that Tommy Brockless, the frozen soldier from World War One, is awakened for one day.   Only this time, things will be very different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Dragon-Verse version of "To the Last Man", and there is also a very small mention of events in the audio book, "Department X"
> 
> There are some dating issues with this chapter. In the original episode this took place on Friday the 20th...but there is on 20th on a Friday in 2008 except for one back in September, and I thought that was a bit too long so I jiggled the dates a little.

 

**_17 July 2008_ **

****

“And the sensors are in the bin under my desk,” Toshiko said, her hands practically fluttering in her obvious nervousness.  “You’ll need to take those out to St Teilo’s just before you wake Tommy up –“

“Yes, Tosh, we know,” Jack answered, barely keeping his laughter in check.  He grabbed his friend’s hands in his, stilling their frantic movements.  “We’ll be fine, I promise.”

“I just feel bad about leaving the three of you here,” she admitted.  “I want to make sure everything’s going to run smoothly.”

“We know,” Ianto said, coming to join them at Toshiko’s station.  “But I think you’re more nervous about meeting Kathy’s family than leaving us in the lurch.”  His tone was teasing, and Jack elbowed him lightly in the ribs, knowing just how much this meant to Toshiko.  She desperately wanted to make a good impression.

She shook her head.  “I never would have asked for time off if I’d known we’d already be one down –“

“We’ve made do with three team members before,” Jack pointed out.  “All you have to do is make friendly with the potential in-laws and let us worry about things around here.”

“Jack’s right,” Ianto agreed.  “Working with just the three of us isn’t undoable.  We’ll handle it just fine, don’t worry.”

Jack put his arm around his mate, tugging him close.  It had taken a bit of time, but he finally felt as if he could accept that what had occurred with both Suzie and Gwen hadn’t entirely been his fault.  Both women had made their own decisions; Suzie had known the danger of alien tech, and yet she hadn’t even attempted to get help with the glove, and Gwen hadn’t even bothered to try to fit in with the team.  Yes, there was some responsibility on his part as well, but he was only human, albeit an immortal one, and he didn’t have any sort of precognition when he’d hired the women.  Plus, Suzie had been a solid teammate for nearly seven years, even if Ianto hadn’t completely trusted her.  As for Gwen…well, Jack had been so in love with the idea that there seemed to be someone out there that resembled Rose, at least in personality, and it really wasn’t until much later that he’d come to realise that any sort of resemblance was only on the surface.   He’d been blinded by what he’d lost, but he’d learned just who the real Gwen Cooper was and had let her go.

It was now time to move on.  They were even looking for replacements, to bring the team back up to five, which was a very positive step forward.

“You deserve the time off,” Jack went on.  “Ianto and I had ours off, and Owen gets his when you get back.”

“But you and Ianto had been through so much after that year,” Toshiko argued.  “I just sat on my arse in Ddraig Llyn.”

“And you ran an entire resistance practically by yourself,” the dragon added.  “You and Kathy both need this time, and I’m going to be blunt here:  Jack and I both know you don’t really want to be here when we wake up Tommy.” 

Toshiko’s shoulders slumped.  “You’re right, and I feel like a complete coward for it.”

“There’s no need for that,” Jack hand-waved her confession.  “Tommy has a bit of a crush on you, and it would be difficult enough for you to have to deal with that, let alone hide the fact that you’re in a relationship with a woman.  He’d never understand if it came out, and it’s just simpler this way.  We’ll worry about it next year, when we have to wake him up again.”

Ianto nodded.  “This year, you’re out of town visiting family.  That’s all he needs to know.”

“There was a time,” she sighed, “when I really thought he and I…but that was never going to happen.  He’s needed to save the world when it comes down to it, and only having one day a year…no, there really was no future for us.  It’s such a shame, because he’s a great guy.”

“It is,” Jack agreed.  “I wish this didn’t have to be put on him, but Time can be such a bitch.”

Toshiko rolled her eyes.  “I think that’s putting it mildly, Jack.”

“But that’s neither here nor there,” Ianto said.  “This is your holiday, and you don’t have to worry about us while you’re gone.  Just enjoy yourself and relax.”

“That’s easy for you to say!  You’re not going to meet your lover’s family!”

The dragon snorted.  “Been there; done that.  It was awkward but look at me and Alice now…she’s the daughter I’ll never have.”

“Don’t think it’s gonna be a disaster going in,” Jack suggested.  “You’re going to jinx yourself that way.”  He released his mate and pulled her into a hug.

“Hands off my girlfriend, Harkness,” Kathy Swanson’s order had them all turning.  The detective inspector had obviously come up through the car park entrance, and she was standing on the top step leading down into the lower Hub, her arms crossed over her chest, the mass of tiny braids she wore tied back into a thick ponytail.  Despite the expression of moral outrage she was looking far more relaxed than he could recall seeing her in a while.

“Kathy!” Jack exclaimed, grinning.  “I just knew sharing the door code with you had been a really bad idea.”  He let Toshiko go, although it wasn’t because of the fact that the detective inspector was perfectly able to hand him his ass if she wanted it. 

Of course it wasn’t.

“Yeah, I was just seeing what was keeping Tosh here,” she answered smartly.  “Seems like now I know.  Jones, you really need to keep your mate on a tight rein.”

“If I honestly thought it would work,” Ianto said blandly, “don’t you think I’d have done that a long time ago?”

“You can put reins on me anytime you’d like,” he said, leering at Ianto, enjoying playing up the kink in their relationship.  Yes, there were a lot of things that he and Ianto loved doing together, but pretending to be a horse to Ianto’s rider…hmm, maybe that was something to think about…

“See?” the dragon pointed out. “He’d enjoy it too much.”

Jack mock-pouted, putting his arm back around Ianto.  “You never let me have any fun.”

“You know that’s not true,” Ianto purred.  “You know I let you have all sorts of fun.”

Kathy rolled her eyes good-naturedly.  “Well, I’m here to take my girlfriend and travel to the wilds of Newport.”

“Yes, please take her away,” Ianto laughed.  “She’s stressing over leaving us poor men on our own.”

“I just want to make plans for any contingency,” Toshiko proclaimed.

“And I think you have,” Jack smiled.  “Get the hell out of here before Owen comes back from lunch and mocks you mercilessly.”

“Your bags are in the car,” Kathy said, as Toshiko opened her mouth to say something.  “We can be at my parents’ house before dinnertime if we leave now.”  Before Toshiko could protest, Kathy was dragging her toward the corridor leading to the rear entrance.  “See you both in a week.  Try not to destroy the city while we’re gone, all right?”

Jack threw her a salute that was just on this side of sarcastic.  “No promises.”

“Wait, I need my laptop!” Toshiko’s voice floated back toward them as they left the Hub.

“No you don’t,” Kathy growled.  “You’d only remote monitor this place with it anyway…”

Jack couldn’t help it; he laughed, it bubbling up from his stomach and making him throw his head back.  “It’s a good thing Kathy showed up when she did,” he chuckled.  “I’m not sure Tosh would have left on her own.”

“Thank you for agreeing with my cunning plan, after the fact,” Ianto winked.  He pulled his mobile from his pocket and wiggled it in Jack’s direction. 

“You called her?”

“Damned right I did!  If I’d had to hear Toshiko give us the lowdown one more time…”

Jack rewarded his mate’s sneakiness with a kiss.  “That was rather brilliant of you.”

“I hope you’ll reward my brilliance later.”

“Of course I will.  But there’s nothing stopping us now…”  He leaned forward to kiss Ianto once more.

Ianto stopped him with a finger to his lips.  “Not now though, we do still have some work to do.”

Jack pouted once more, feeling hard done by.  “Spoilsport.”

“Owen will be back anytime now,” Ianto pointed out, “and to be honest I don’t want him catching us once more.  He drags everything way out of proportion when he does.”

“He’s just jealous.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Ianto said dryly, rolling his eyes.  “Come on, we can go over the CV’s of the people we’re considering bringing in to take Gwen’s place.”

Jack nodded.  “Yeah, I’d like to get someone hired in as soon as we can.  It’s too bad Kathy won’t take us up on our offer.”  It really was.  Jack could see her fitting in with the team fairly seamlessly, and she had that streak of justice that had been missing in Gwen.  Kathy would fight for what was right, but she would also have been willing to listen to the senior members of the team and not question every order Jack would give.  Certainly, she’d want to know what motivated the order, but she’d not argue with him even when she was wrong.  It was a shame, but Jack knew they wouldn’t budge her on it.

 “I know, but we’ll never be able to talk her into it.  However, we do have a few interesting people we could discuss,” the dragon said.  “Let me make us some coffee and we can get started.”

“Sounds like a plan.  I want to get someone in as soon as possible, preferably after Owen gets back from his own time off.  That way you and I can start training and still have four for active field rotation.  Why don’t I meet you in my office?”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Ianto agreed.  He slipped out of Jack’s grasp and headed up toward the kitchen area.

“Hey!” he called, and the dragon stopped and turned.  “Do you happen to have any Hob Nobs hidden away?”  Jack gave his mate his best ‘starving and fading away’ expression, pressing his palms together as if in prayer.

Ianto snorted.  “You should have taken Owen up on his offer to bring us back something for lunch.”

“I don’t trust that he wouldn’t spit in anything he brought back,” Jack joked, knowing damned well that their medic would do no such thing.  To be honest, he hadn’t been hungry at the time, and he really wasn’t in the mood for kebabs.

Ianto looked at him fondly.  “Yes Jack, I think I might have some Hob Nobs stashed away somewhere.”

“You are a star, a wonderful person, a perfect lover –“

“Don’t lay it on so thick,” the dragon laughed, blushing slightly.  “I’m already going to bring you some.”

“I can think of thicker things,” Jack winked, laying as much suggestion into his voice as he could.

“Do we need to bring out the tape measure again?”

“We both already know that you have a distinct advantage,” Jack smirked.  “At least you do in your natural form.  Now, if we’re talking human forms…”

“In your dreams, Jack Harkness,” Ianto laughed even harder.  “Now, go to your office and I’ll bring the coffee and snacks in.”

Jack saluted, this time in as saucy a way as he could.  “Yes, sir!”

Ianto waggled a finger at him, then continued on his way, giving Jack a very nice view of his ass as he climbed the stairs. 

Jack couldn’t help but grinning. 

 

**********

 

They were two into their pile of CV’s by the time Owen returned from his lunch break.  He waved at them through the open office door, then headed down into his lair, calling out for coffee as he went.

Ianto sighed, sounding put-upon, and called the medic on the comm. telling him that there was a mug already on his desk, and to stop sounding like a whiney prat.

Jack had gone to all of his contacts to see if they could recommend people who would fit into their team, and he had to admit they’d come through.  There were six UNIT files from Colonel Mace, two from Commodore Sullivan at MI-5, two more from the Cardiff police – not including Andy Davidson, Jack automatically setting his aside simply because he knew Kathy would have his hide if he even tried to poach her protégé.  There were also several civilians that had made their way into his pile, and Jack and Ianto had begun to whittle the stack down to a more rational size.

“I’ve been thinking,” Ianto mused.

“Always dangerous,” Jack answered, and he flinched away when the dragon smacked him playfully on the arm.

“As I was saying,” he went on, “we really need to start thinking about getting someone in to handle the Tourist Office, so I can be freed up to do other things in the Hub.  They wouldn’t have to be a field agent, just someone who can handle the odd tourist we get in, plus perhaps some of the not-quite-so secret paperwork.”

Jack leaned back in his chair.  He knew he mate had been thinking about this for a while now, and to be honest Jack agreed.  While Ianto was excellent at all the little jobs he did around the Hub, they really needed someone who could take up all the minutiae of everyday life within the Hub itself in order to free his mate up for other, more important, work. 

“I didn’t think to ask for someone who could just do admin,” Jack replied, rubbing his chin.  “It makes sense, though.  We’ll have to come up with some qualifications for the job…” Then he looked at Ianto shrewdly.  “Unless you already have someone in mind.”

“I might, yeah.  I was thinking about Deborah Morrison.”

It took Jack a moment to realise who Ianto meant.  “You mean that young woman who came through the Rift with John Ellis and Diane?”  He then recalled her birth name, Emma-Louise Cowell. 

Ianto nodded.  “She’s currently taking classes out of Cardiff University, studying accounting at the moment.  She had the notion of going into fashion design, but an internship she’d been counting on fell through.  She hasn’t given up on that dream, but decided to get into business and accounting with the goal of opening her own business.  We could even use her expertise on our own financials and taxes if needed.”

Jack considered.  Deborah already knew about Torchwood, so there wouldn’t be a need to explain to her about what went on beyond the door of the Tourist Office.   Also, Jack was aware that Ianto knew now to run a business, and if he was putting Deborah up for helping out with Torchwood’s financial reports then he had to respect that.  The dragon wasn’t about to let anyone touch his precious files without trusting them at least a little.  “She hasn’t been in university for long, though.”

“No, and that’s why I wouldn’t give her Torchwood’s books just yet.  But I’ve checked up on the marks she’s been getting and they’re quite impressive.  Plus this sort of work would allow her to get more study time in, than where she’s working now.”

“Which is?”

Ianto grimaced.  “The unmentionables counter at G.R. Owen.”

Jack shivered slightly.  He didn’t have fond memories of what had gone on at G.R. Owen.  “Have you approached her yet?”

“No, I wanted to fly it past you first.”

While he knew Ianto didn’t mean anything by the comment, Jack still felt his stomach drop slightly.  He’d hired Gwen without talking it over with Ianto, and while he’d pretty much accepted that Gwen’s failure as a Torchwood operative wasn’t his fault, he’d still gone behind the back of his Second to hire her.  And here was Ianto, waiting to do anything without discussing it with Jack first.

There were times when Jack wondered just what he’d done to deserve Ianto Jones.

He could feel those ancient blue eyes on him, and Jack shook himself out of his reverie.  “I’d still want to give her some sort of weapons training, just in case.”

Ianto nodded.  “That makes sense.”

“She really got along with you, so why don’t you approach her?  Lay out what we’d want her to do, and find out if it would interfere with her studies any.  I don’t want her giving up uni for any reason.”  Deborah needed her education, and no way was he going to let Torchwood take that away from her.

“I’ll do that after we put Tommy back into suspension.”

“All right, then; that’s settled.  Let’s see if we can get through these files and find at least one person who can handle Torchwood, shall we?”

Ianto nodded, and Jack sat back upright in his chair, reaching for the next CV on the stack that awaited their perusal.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

**_18 July 2008_ **

****

The dragon awoke slowly, stretching his large body and feeling aches that weren’t there last night.  He grinned, revealing far too many teeth for a human to be comfortable seeing if one was in the room with him, as he remembered just how those aches had gotten there.

Jack wasn’t beside him, but he could hear the shower running in the ensuite.  The dragon stretched even more, practically flopping onto his side, wings splayed out behind him.  It wasn’t the first time he was glad that he and Jack had decided to move the bed out of their nest, because it gave him more room to spread out and simply luxuriate in the early morning pale light that was coming in through the skylight.   That morning, though, was a completely different matter, as his body casually informed him as he moved.  He was sore, but it was an amazing type of sore.

The clock on the wall claimed it was just after 6:30am, and Ianto dozed for a few minutes before he heard the shower turn off and the knob of the bathroom door turn.  He cracked one eye open to find Jack standing next to him, hands on his hips, and completely, deliciously naked.  “Get up, lazy,” his mate teased.  “We don’t have time to stay in bed all day.”

The dragon huffed.  “And whose fault is that I don’t want to get up?”

The smirk on Jack’s face made him want to kiss it off, if he felt motivated to move.  “Did I tire out the big, bad dragon last night?”

“You’re the one who buggered me into incoherence, so you know damned well you did.  And you still haven’t given me an answer when I enquired as to where you found the dragon-sized dildo and cock ring.”

Jack’s smirk went into a full-blown leer.  “I wouldn’t want to give away all of my secrets, would I?”

“Keep your secrets then, silly.  After all, you were the one ‘de-flowering’ me.  I felt I had a right to know.”  It had been a big surprise when Jack had brought out the dragon sex-toys that he’d managed to smuggle into the house without Ianto noticing.   “Although this explains why you were so insistent on measuring me.”

“And here you thought it was just another sex game,” Jack said, grinning.

“I _know_ it was just another sex game,” the dragon corrected, “because you could turn pretty much any action into one.  But don’t look so smug there, Jack Harkness…some things just aren’t meant to be arousing and you know it, although you insist on trying.”

The look on Jack’s face told a completely different story.   He didn’t comment though, instead saying, “Get up and get a shower, we have a long day today.”  He playfully smacked the dragon on the heavily armoured stomach, wincing and wringing his hand in pain afterward.

In a swirl of golden energy, the dragon transformed into Ianto Jones, Second of Torchwood.  “That’ll teach you not to do that,” he teased. 

On his way past his mate toward the shower, Jack tried again, and this time his hand slapped Ianto on the arse.  Ianto didn’t even turn around; instead, he shimmied that arse just a little as he headed into the ensuite, laughing as Jack growled in reaction. 

Then he shut the door and climbed into the shower. 

 

**********

 

The hot water of the shower didn’t ease up on the achiness much, but Ianto ignored it as he got dressed.  Jack had already gone downstairs, and was working on breakfast if the smell of bacon wafting up from the stairwell was any indication.   His stomach telling him it was ready to eat, Ianto headed down the stairs and into the ‘human-sized’ area of his and Jack’s home.  He draped his jacket and tie over the back of the sofa then entered the kitchen, where Jack was working over the stove, juggling one frying pan of bacon, another of scrambled eggs, and the toaster as he hummed a song that sounded vaguely like the “Sound of Music”.

“Good morning,” Jack greeted, leaning over and pressing a light kiss to Ianto’s cheek.  “Breakfast is almost done, except a certain dragon overslept and doesn’t have the coffee ready…”

“And I maintain it’s a certain immortal’s fault that a certain dragon overslept,” Ianto answered, ducking past Jack and starting the coffee.  He took their mugs down from the shelf they were on.

“But a certain dragon doesn’t sound like he’s complaining too much.”

“A certain immortal would be correct.”

Jack laughed, pulling two plates down out of the cabinet and loading them up with the eggs, bacon, and buttery toast, putting twice as much on Ianto’s plate than on his own.  Ianto’s stomach loved Jack wholeheartedly at the sight of the meal, and rewarded him by returning the kiss, this time with tongue. 

They ate quietly, until Jack was finished and Ianto was nearly done.  “Will you have everything ready for when Tommy wakes up?”

Ianto nodded.  “I’m going to stop for his breakfast on the way in.  I’ll also make certain that there’s plenty of tea made.”  Tommy was always famished after being brought out of cryogenic suspension, devouring almost as much as Ianto did for a normal meal…which was saying something.  Ianto hadn’t been able to get him away from tea, though, and into coffee.  He considered it an abject failure on his part.

“And I’ll make certain the sensors Toshiko left us are up and running,” Jack answered.  They had packed the tub away in the boot of the SUV before leaving the Hub last night.  They’d come home in separate vehicles, Jack volunteering to go out to St. Teilo’s to get that part of the day done before they woke Tommy up.

Ianto couldn’t help but feel sorry for Tommy.  The young soldier had been in hospital because of shellshock, and it hadn’t been his fault that he’d been caught up in the time tear that had occurred at St. Teilo’s in 1918.  He was just another innocent, accidentally involved in events beyond anyone’s control.  And now, they woke him up once a year, on this date, wondering if he was going to be sent back this time or if it was back in cryofreeze for another year.

It wasn’t fair.  But then, Ianto had long ago learned that life just wasn’t that way.

“Hey,” Jack reached across the table and took the dragon’s hand.  “I know you don’t like this.  None of us do.  But we don’t have much choice.”

“I know.”  Ianto squeezed Jack’s hand as he rested his fork on his plate, no longer hungry.  “It’s just that Tommy should have been living his life, with a family and friends, instead of being woken up once a year just because time decided to tear itself apart.”

‘Yeah, he should have.”  Jack sighed, taking his hand back and standing up, grabbing his plate.  “He should have had a normal life.  But he doesn’t, and unfortunately now we wait.” 

Ianto nodded.  It was all they could do.

 

**********

 

Surprisingly, Ianto wasn’t the first one at the Hub that morning. 

As he parked his car in its usual spot he noticed that Owen had gotten there before him.   Smiling, the dragon made his way up into the Hub proper, and as he walked in he could hear the medic slamming something around in the autopsy bay.

Shaking his head, Ianto made his way up to the kitchen, where he put away the supplies he’d purchased for Tommy.  He put on the first coffee of the day, and the smell drew Owen up from his lair.  “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Dragon Boy,” he growled, practically stalking his way up to the kitchen.

“Up late last night?” Ianto inquired, pouring.

“Surprisingly, no,” the medic answered, taking the offered mug.  “Although I did go over Tommy’s records before bed.  Wouldn’t want anything to go wrong.”

Owen may have come off as a sarcastic slacker, but Ianto knew he really did care for his patients.  Especially ones like Tommy, who couldn’t help what he was going through and relied on Owen to make certain he came out of the cryogenics intact. 

He took his first sip, sighing.  “Now that’s just what I needed.”

“Are you ready for today, then?” Ianto asked, getting his own cup.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Owen replied.  “Is it wrong of me to hope that this is the last time?  That after today we don’t have to put that poor kid through this shit anymore?”

“No, it isn’t.  I was just thinking this morning that Tommy didn’t ask for this, and that it wasn’t right that he has to go through with this every year.”

“He’s a good kid.  He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Sucks.”

Ianto couldn’t argue with that.

“Where’s Harkness?”

“He’s putting out the sensors at St. Teilo’s –“

At that moment, Ianto’s mobile chose to go off. 

He checked the caller ID.  “Speak of the devil and he shall phone.”   He answered the call.  “What’s up, Jack?”

_“We may have a problem,”_ his mate answered. 

Ianto slid the phone away from his ear, putting it on speaker so Owen could listen in.  “What’s wrong?”

_“It looks like St. Teilo’s is being demolished.”_

“Well, that’s torn it,” Owen swore.

_“You’re not kidding,”_ Jack said.  _“I was putting in the sensors and I think whatever’s going to happen, it’s going to be soon.  I saw what looked like a nurse walking the one of the wards, and she didn’t seem to notice I was there.”_

“I’ll check the sensor readouts when they’re all online,” Ianto said.  “They should tell us something.”

_“Good plan.  Owen, is everything ready?”_

“Yeah, Jack.  I’m all set.”

_“Then get things started.  I’m almost done here, and should be back at the Hub in about half an hour.”_

“You got it.  Looks like I just got my wish.  Fuck.”  Owen reached over, refilled his coffee, and then set out toward the autopsy bay.

Ianto picked up the phone just as Jack was speaking, _“What did Owen mean?”_

“He was just saying that he hoped this was the last time we had to do this to Tommy.”  He took his own coffee down to Toshiko’s station, turning everything on in preparation for the sensor readings to start coming into the system.   He set the phone down again, the better to work as he spoke with his mate.

_“Yeah, he might have gotten that wish.”_

Fingers dancing over the keyboard, Ianto brought the equipment online.  “I’m not getting anything yet,” he reported.

_“Give me a sec; I’m setting the last one in place.”_

As Jack talked, the algorithm that Toshiko had written in order to monitor her sensors came alive, and several smaller windows opened up, one dedicated to each of the devices Jack had just planted.  Ianto surfed through them.  There was a single blip in one window, but that was it.  He told Jack what he’d found. 

_“Looks like things are just getting cranked up, then,”_ Jack answered.  _“But things’ll only get worse.”_

Ianto was well aware that once things got started out at the hospital, it would only escalate, and the demolition going on would only make things worse. 

Many so-called ghost hunters claimed that disturbing certain buildings would stir up spirits.  They weren’t far wrong, although what they were really seeing were simply echoes of emotional and temporal events.  That energy could be read with certain devices, such as a Quantum Transducer or ‘Ghost Machine’ as it had been called, but usually no one realised it was there unless someone was particularly sensitive to that sort of thing. 

This circumstance, though, was a little different.   Most supposedly ‘haunted’ houses didn’t have the power of a Rift in space and time behind it, and it would only amplify the temporal energy within the building, causing the time shifts that Gerald Carter and Harriet Derbyshire had encountered back in 1918.  Demolishing the building itself would only make the situation worse, ripping into the very fabric of time and destabilising the Rift.

Tommy though would be the glue that would bind the resulting tear in time together.  It wasn’t stated in the official records just how that was supposed to work, but Ianto knew from the reports that it would.  Perhaps more was said in the sealed orders that Gerald had left behind, to open when a certain build-up of temporal energy would unlock them and let the team know what needed to be done. 

Ianto did hate to be in the dark about what was going to happen, if just for Tommy’s sake.  For the last seven years he’d been witness to Tommy’s awakening and then refreezing.   Every time Tommy would open his eyes, the world would be different and more confusing, and the farther away from 1918 he went, the worse it became.  Even though Ianto could understand that to a degree, being a medieval dragon in the 21st Century, he’d at least had been able to get used to the changes by taking the slow path, unlike Tommy who never had enough of a chance to get to know what had gone on without him. 

He knew Jack felt the same way, although for him it was in the opposite direction.  Coming from the future and being trapped in the past, Jack had had to deal with things being more primitive than what he was used to.  However, he too had had time to get used to things, even if he still blew up the occasional microwave. 

_“I’m on my way back,”_ Jack’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.  _“Make sure everything is ready for Tommy and we’ll bring him out of the freeze then.”_

“You got it,” Ianto agreed.  “I think Owen’s nearly ready to bring up the cryo-unit –“

“Yeah,” Owen said, coming up behind Ianto and it was all he could do not to jump in surprise.   “Dragon-Boy and I will bring up the soldier-cicle and have everything ready for when you get back.”

_“Sounds like a plan.  I’m in the SUV now and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”_

The sound of the line disconnecting had Ianto folding his own phone closed.  He set the alarm on the computer so they would know if any more activity occurred out at St. Teilo’s and then followed Owen down to the vaults, where Tommy Brockless awaited them.

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know this is horribly late, but I had a big bang eat my brain and I was running horribly late with it. But it's finished and I'm hoping we'll be back on track now. And thanks to everyone who PM'd me to make sure I was all right. This chapter is dedicated to you all...you know who you are. *grins*

**_18 July 2008_ **

****

Jack had arrived back at the Hub just as Owen was cracking open the cryo-unit that held Tommy Brockless.

He stood at the railing and out of the way as Owen – with Ianto’s help – prepared the young soldier for awakening.  Every time he saw Tommy it took him back to his time during World War One, in the trenches and behind enemy lines, with explosions and gunshots and the screaming of the terrified soldiers as they faced their worst fears across battle lines. 

Now, of course with the virtue of hindsight it was easy to acknowledge that many of those poor kids never were the same afterward, but Jack recalled at the time that those who had been sent back to the trenches were thought cowards if they weren’t back to fully-functioning soldiers after their stays in various hospitals.  And the ones shot as cowards…over three hundred young lives lost to charges of desertion, when they’d simply been sick and unable to deal with it.    It could have been worse, of course, what with thousands of death sentences handed down, but Jack knew that even the loss of one life because of shell-shock was one too many.

War was always horrific, but when it was paired with ignorance terrible things happened.   Jack had seen it all, and there were times when he still had nightmares about it.  He, himself, had had to order innocent boys into battle, and it wasn’t something he’d enjoyed.  He’d known commanders who hadn’t given a damn, but Jack had never been like that.   His urge to protect the men under whatever command he had had been too strong.

Jack watched as the two worked down in the autopsy bay, lifting Tommy carefully out of the cryochamber and placing him on the metal table.  Owen bustled around, firing up equipment and attaching leads to their patient.  The medic glanced up at Jack.  “We’re ready.”

“Do it.”

Owen reached over to one of his instrument trays, picking up a hypodermic which he placed against Tommy’s too-pale neck.  He gave the soldier the injection, and the heart monitor beeped…once.

“Come on,” Owen urged, using his gloved fingers to search for a pulse, although Jack knew there wouldn’t be one; the heart monitor was still in flatline.

Jack’s heart clenched in his chest.  That boy had been through so much…to lose him now…his hands gripped the railing tightly, not feeling the metal cutting into his palms.  It would be ironic if Tommy didn’t awaken this time, not when he was certain this would be the final time the boy had to go through the agony of seeing another year pass him by.

“Damnit,” Owen swore.  He stretched out his arm behind him, snagging the defibrillator that had been waiting for just such a time.  He quickly charged the paddles.  “Charging 200,” he snapped.  “Clear!”

Ianto stepped away from the autopsy bed as the medic zapped the young man.  Jack leaned further over the railing, almost willing the heart monitor to get a reading.

It was still in flatline.

“Charging 300…clear!”

Owen used the paddles again, and this time the monitor began beeping frantically even as Tommy’s eyes opened and he reared up off the table.

Jack let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding.

Ianto grabbed onto him as Owen tossed the paddles back in the general direction of the defibrillator.  “Hold him still!”

“I’m trying!” the dragon gritted, trying to wrestle the obviously frightened soldier back onto the table. 

Jack was down the steps before he was even aware, and he grabbed onto Tommy’s legs to keep him from kicking out.  Irrational panic was lending Tommy a strength he didn’t normally have, and it was hard to keep him from flinging himself off the table.

“Get off me!” Tommy shouted, his struggles increasing. 

“Tommy!” Ianto called.  Jack hoped he would be able to get through to the confused man; it had been Toshiko who usually was the one to bring Tommy back around, and their technician wasn’t there to do that.

“Leave me alone!” Tommy exclaimed, trying to buck them all off. 

Owen attempted to take a hold of Tommy’s flailing left arm, and got a fist to the face for his trouble.  The blow sent him reeling back into the tray, and the falling instruments struck the tiles with a metallic clatter, scattering across the floor.  A scalpel hit Jack’s foot, and he was glad he was wearing his usual work boots.

Ianto practically laid his body across Tommy’s chest, pressing him back onto the table.  “Tommy Brockless!” the dragon called.  “Calm down!  It’s us!  You’re safe!”

Slowly Tommy’s struggles ceased, his panicked eyes meeting Ianto’s, and then Jack’s.  Then they closed, and his body relaxed.  “Sorry,” he murmured.  “It’s getting harder to remember every time…”

“Good left hook, though,” Ianto congratulated, removing his weight from the soldier’s chest.

 Owen gave him a two-fingered salute.

“Do you remember where you are?” Jack asked, releasing his grip on Tommy’s legs. 

“Yeah,” Tommy sighed.  “Torchwood.  It’s time again?”

“Afraid so.”

“Blimey.”  Tommy slowly raised himself up on his elbows, frowning.  “Where is everyone?”  Then his eyes widened.  “Are they…?”

“We’ll explain everything,” Jack soothed.  He silently cursed himself for not having considered that Tommy’s first thought on the missing Toshiko would have been that she was dead.   “Let’s get you some breakfast, and we’ll catch you up then.”

Tommy nodded.  Owen patted him on the shoulder, and Ianto withdrew, in order to get the food ready.  He caught Jack’s eye as he passed, and Jack nodded slightly in response.  Ianto continued his way up into the main Hub, as Owen passed Tommy something to wear.

Jack watched as their guest slowly got dressed, a part of him not looking forward to telling Tommy everything. 

And yet, at the same time, he knew Tommy would be glad that this was almost over.

 

**********

 

Ianto had set everything up in the conference room, furnishing Tommy with a plateful of eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and tea, and the rest of them with coffee.  The soldier dug in with gusto, and didn’t stop until he was nearly halfway through, taking a break from eating with several swallows of tea.

“Sorry,” he apologised, setting his tea mug down, “but I was starving.”

“No problem,” Jack said, smiling indulgently.  “It’s good to see someone enjoying themselves so much over their meal.”  He took a sip of his own coffee, enjoying the bitterness on his tongue.

“I can’t be the only one eating,” Tommy said.  “There’s enough here to feed an army.”  He waved his fork around at the plates scattered onto the tabletop.

Owen didn’t have to be told twice; he grabbed several pieces of bacon, chewing one as he snarked, “Tea Boy makes a lovely wife.”

It took Ianto rolling his eyes for Jack to recall that Tommy didn’t know that his mate was a dragon.  He hadn’t heard Owen call him ‘Tea Boy’ in a long time.   “And as you can see, Owen is still a twat.”

Tommy choked on a mouthful of tea, and Jack had to lean over and pat him on the back.   “It might have been a year since I was awake,” the young man said hoarsely after he was done with the coughing fit, “but the pair of you don’t change at all.”

Ianto sat back with a self-satisfied smirk, while Owen stuffed his face with bacon, chasing it down with a large gulp of coffee.

“Tommy,” Jack said, once everyone had settled down, “there are some things we need to talk to you about, and I did promise you to explain.”

Tommy turned serious, setting his mug down.  “Yeah.  I’d really like to know what happened to Toshiko and Suzie.”

Jack nodded.  “Toshiko is fine; you don’t have to worry about her.  She had some family business to take care of and had to leave town for a bit.  I know she wanted to be here, but this was too important.”  It was the story they’d decided upon, and it was the truth as far as it went.  Technically it wasn’t Toshiko’s family she was going to see…not yet, anyway.  Jack had no doubt that, one day, the Swansons would be her in-laws.

The young man looked relieved.  “Good, I was worried…”

If there was anyone at the table most familiar with Torchwood’s mortality rate, it would have been Tommy.  He’d seen teams come and go in the ninety years he’d been a guest of Torchwood’s, but Jack and Ianto had been the two constants for him in the last seven times he’d come out of the cryo. 

“What about Suzie?”

Suzie had been another constant; in fact, Tommy had met her before he’d Jack and Ianto, since she had been on the team that Yvonne Hartman had put into place after Alex Hopkins had murdered the previous team and Jack had gone on the run from Torchwood. 

“Suzie…is gone,” Jack admitted.  He still missed her, and still felt a shred of guilt over what had occurred with the glove, but he knew that she had made her own decisions when it had come down to it. 

“I’m sorry,” Tommy said wholeheartedly.  “She was decent to me.”

At least he remembered her as she was, and not the murderer she had become. 

“There’s something else,” Jack went on.  “St. Teilo’s is being demolished.”

Tommy looked confused.  “But if the hospital is gone…”

“Exactly,” Ianto replied.  “This is why we think this is the time.”

The young man’s eyes widened.  “You mean the last time?”

Jack nodded.  “When I was there to set up the sensors, I saw a nurse walking the hallway.  One that didn’t belong in this time.”

Tommy swallowed.  “So, this is it?  No more freezing me?”

“We’re fairly sure, yes.”

“I…I don’t really know how to feel about that.  I mean, a really big part of me is relieved that I won’t have to go through this anymore.  But…it means I’ll be going back…to the war.”

He looked haunted, and Jack wanted to reassure him…but he couldn’t.  What he’d seen at the hospital was the beginning of a strange flux in his memories; it was as if there were two different pasts involved, and he couldn’t tell one from the other.  They were muddled, and the more Jack tried to reconcile his recollections the more tangled they became.  He honestly didn’t know what happened to Tommy after sending him back, even though he knew he’d been present at the time of the original incident, freshly back from a Torchwood assignment that had taken him behind enemy lines.

He glanced over at Ianto, and he wondered if his lover was able to sense the disruptions to time.  The dragon was sensitive to such things, and he’d have to ask when they got a moment alone.

“I know it’s a lot to accept,” Jack said, “but none of us know what’s going to happen when you go back.  Let’s not go borrowing trouble, okay?”

Tommy nodded, but Jack could tell he wasn’t consoled. 

He had a perfect right not to be. 

“Eat up, Soldier Boy,” Owen said, slapping Tommy on the back companionably.  “I wanna get your physical done.”

That seemed to snap Tommy out of his depression.  “You wake me up once a year just to stick needles in me.”

“Owen was a vampire in another life,” Ianto joked.

“I believe it!”

“Yeah, keep that up,” Owen growled.  “Just remember who does your physicals, too.”

“And remember who makes your coffee.”

Jack barked out a laugh.  “Touché.”

“They really don’t change, do they?”  Tommy asked. 

It had only been three years for him, but Jack knew that Tommy held onto his memories jealously.  His connection to them was the only thing keeping him from going off the rails, and while Jack had no idea what it was like for him, to wake up once a year and it feel like it’s only been a day, Tommy had seen so many operatives die too soon. 

Jack himself hadn’t had much to do with Tommy in the early years.  It really hadn’t been until he’d taken over Torchwood that he’d begun to make his own associations with the young man.  That meant that not only was Tommy ignorant of Ianto’s true nature, he didn’t know about Jack’s immortality, either.  They wanted to keep it that way, and not burden the young man with more than he needed to carry.

“We’re going to keep on taking readings on St. Teilo’s,” Jack added.  “We’ll know more later on.  If this is it, then we should know by this evening.  In the meantime, Owen will give you your physical and you can decide what you’d like to do today.”

Tommy nodded.  “I do wish Toshiko was here,” he said wistfully.  “I’d have liked to have seen her again, if this is the time.”

Jack wanted to comfort him.  They’d had no idea that things were going to happen when they’d decided that Toshiko should take this week to go to Newport.  Toshiko really liked the soldier, but Tommy liked her a bit more than that, and it would have been awkward.

Still, Jack knew he’d have to call her and let her know, and give her the choice of coming back or staying with Kathy in Newport.

He dreaded it.

 

**********

_“Jack, is something wrong?”_

Jack leaned back in his chair, the entrance to the autopsy bay just in sight, where Tommy was undergoing his latest physical.  “No, nothing wrong,” he reassured Toshiko.  “I just have some news I thought you might want to hear.”

The sigh of relief was audible over the line.  _“What’s going on?”_

Jack wasn’t going to beat around the bush on this.  “Toshiko…it’s time.”

There was silence.

He was about to ask her if she was all right, when Toshiko spoke again.  _“Are you sure?”_ Her voice shook a little.

“They’re tearing down St. Teilo’s, and I saw a nurse out at the hospital when I was setting the sensors.  We’ve also gotten some blips…nothing big yet, but yes…we’re sure.”  He paused, wanting her to be able to digest the information.  “What do you want to do?”

_“Jack, I…damnit.”_

“That was pretty much my reaction, yes.”

An indelicate snort sounded.  _“You did tell him that I was visiting family, right?”_

“Yes, I did.  But it’s up to you, Toshiko.  I know the pair of you are friends…”  Jack wanted to give her the choice.  Would she want to see Tommy one last time, or let him go?

_“I’d like to say goodbye, but at the same time…Jack, if this is his last day in the future, he might think anything I do would mean more than it did.  I don’t want to lead him on, you know that.”_

“I do, yes.  And I respect you for that.” 

Ianto appeared in the doorway, and the dragon mouthed ‘Toshiko?’  Jack nodded, and Ianto came into the office, shutting the door behind him.  He sat down in the visitor’s chair, his old eyes looking sad.

_“I don’t want to be hard-hearted, Jack.  But I can’t help but think me coming back would just make things more difficult.  I know Kathy would drive me back the moment I asked her to…”_ Another sigh echoed down the line.  _“Will he even remember me when he goes back?”_

He stared at the sealed canister on his desk, looking so very innocuous and yet holding the secrets of the past within.  Jack cursed silently, wishing the thing was open now, so he’d have more answers to give her. 

The problem was, Jack honestly didn’t know.  Would he recall everything he’d been through, or would he revert to the shell-shocked young soldier who had been a patient at the hospital when all of this had happened back in 1918?  He wanted to give her the correct answer, but Jack didn’t _have_ that answer. 

It was a choice he had to make: to admit that he didn’t know, or to lie and give Toshiko some form of peace if she decided to live her own life aside from what was going to transpire in the next twenty-four hours.

It really was an easy choice to make.

“When he was frozen, his most recent memories were as well.  Once the time shift is over and things are back to normal, he won’t remember a thing.”

His own memories of what had gone on were so jumbled, Jack couldn’t be certain he was correct, but this was to help Toshiko.  She would never see Tommy again after tomorrow even if she did come back.  And yet, the pair of them had gotten along so well that Jack couldn’t _not_ have told her that the time shifts were starting.

Toshiko couldn’t help it that Tommy felt more for her than she did for him.  That she’d moved on after a nightmare year with a woman who wanted her in her life, and that Toshiko wanted in hers.  She and Kathy were good together, and Jack didn’t want anything to endanger that.

But would Toshiko coming back to say goodbye do that?

Kathy understood the nature of their work.  She even knew what was taking place today, and why Toshiko had requested this particular time off.   So it wasn’t that Toshiko would have to hide anything. 

It was Toshiko’s choice…the past, or the future.  Only she could make it.

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

**_18 July 2008_ **

****

Ianto sat quietly in his chair, listening to Jack’s end of the conversation with Toshiko.  He’d expected his mate to call her, since this could very well be the last chance she’d have to see Tommy.

He was well aware of the feelings that Tommy had for Toshiko, and that she could have easily returned them after what had happened with the mind-reading pendant.  Toshiko had felt that Tommy liked her for _her_ , and not to get her into bed or anything, not like Mary and, to some extent, Owen, from what Toshiko had told the dragon about overhearing the medic’s thoughts.

But then, Kathy had come along, and the events of the Year of the Toclafane.  The two women had gotten closer and closer, and Ianto had been glad to see it.  The relationship was far healthier than had she let that torch for Tommy be lit; how much worse would it have been for both of them when Tommy had had to go back to his own time?  What would it have done to Toshiko if they’d given into any sort of feeling? 

All Ianto wanted was for his friend to be happy, and she was that way with Kathy.

Honestly, he hoped she’d stay in Newport with Kathy.  That she would make a clean break of it.  He did know how she felt about the young man, but she couldn’t let that stand in the way of her future.

“No, Toshiko,” Jack said into the phone, “I don’t think you’re a coward.  You have to do what’s right for you, and each of us understands your decision.”

Ianto let out a breath he hadn’t been aware that he was holding.  The dragon was relieved that it seemed she was going to stay away, although he hoped she really would take Jack’s words to heart about not being a coward.  Not wanting to have a life outside Torchwood wasn’t cowardice; it was bravery of the highest order, knowing how short a life Toshiko might have continuing on with the team.  Kathy accepted it as well, which made it almost a tragedy in a way. 

Once more, he swore that his teammates would all live a very long, very happy life.

Jack made a hand gesture, mouthing, ‘Tommy.’  Ianto nodded, understanding what his mate was asking of him, and he got to his feet. 

Ianto left the office, heading down to the autopsy bay where Owen was finishing up the physical on Tommy.  The young soldier was perched on the metal exam table with his back to the steps, shrugging on a button-down that the dragon had gotten for him.  He already had on the trousers, only missing his socks and shoes.

Owen pulled off his sterile gloves.  “Everything’s good,” he reported as Ianto approached.  “Tell Harkness our soldier boy here is about as fine as he could be.”

Tommy twisted around, and gave Ianto a smile.  “Thanks for the clothes,” he said.  “You’ve gotten me a new outfit every year so far.  I could probably re-wear anything you already bought me, though.”

“We wanted you to be comfortable,” Ianto answered.  He didn’t say that buying something new for the young man was a pleasure, because someone needed to look after him, and Ianto was perfectly willing to do just that.  “Jack wants you up in his office.”

Tommy nodded, hopping down from the table.  He took a moment to gather up his shoes and socks and then followed Ianto up into the Hub, and to Jack’s office.  Ianto waved him into the chair, and Tommy took him up on it, his eyes confused.

Jack took the phone down from his ear.  “I have Toshiko on the line,” he explained.  “I thought she might want to know this was it.”

Tommy perked up at that.  “Can I talk to her, please?” 

“Certainly.”  Jack got up and brought the mobile around the desk, handing it to the young soldier. 

Tommy grasped it eagerly, and took a second to make sure he was holding it correctly before bringing it up to his face.  “Hi, Toshiko,” he said into the receiver, sounding almost shy.

Ianto and Jack both left the office, giving Tommy some privacy.  Jack pulled the door closed, and together they made their way over to Toshiko’s station, where the scans of St. Teilo’s were running.   Owen joined them.

“I don’t envy Tosh,” the dragon murmured, turning to face both his mate and their medic.

“She not coming back then?” Owen asked.

Jack shook his head.  “This is for the best, I think.  She doesn’t need to lead Tommy on.”

“I’m not surprised,” the medic said.  “But she needed to know this could be going down now.”

Ianto turned back to the terminals.  He pulled up the windows dedicated to the sensors out of the derelict hospital.  “There have been some larger spikes out there.  We’re leading up to something.”

To be honest, he could tell something was going on, although nothing was strong enough to do more than tickle lightly across his skin.  In fact, thinking back on it Ianto realised that a lot of his achiness had to do with spasms in the Rift and not from overexertion, as he’d thought.  It would get worse, but he knew he could weather it.

“The sealed orders haven’t opened yet,” Jack answered.  “But you’re right.  This has to be it.  I want to go back out to St. Teilo’s and see what’s going on out there.  Ianto, can you call Andy Davidson and warn him they might get some strange reports coming from the area?”

Ianto nodded.  “I’ll do that right now.  We don’t want to have one of the local coppers following up a call out there and walking into something they can’t handle.”

He moved away from the workstation, leaving Jack and Owen to watch the scans.  He pulled his own mobile from his pocket, finding Andy Davidson’s number on his speed dial.

Kathy had asked permission to clue her newest protégé in on some of the things that Torchwood did, making Andy her proxy in case she was unavailable.  Jack had agreed, especially when Andy’s CV had shown up with others they’d been perusing for their next team member.  He’d been impressed with the young man, and Ianto knew that Jack would have gone after him if Kathy hadn’t gotten to him first.

_“Davidson.”_

“Good morning, Detective Constable,” Ianto greeted.  “This is Ianto Jones of Torchwood.  How are you today?”

There was an audible snort over the line, and Ianto wondered if the young constable had already picked that particular sound from Kathy.  _“It was fine until you called, Mr. Jones.”_

Ianto couldn’t help but laugh.  “I take it Inspector Swanson has already poisoned your mind against us.”

_“Hell, no.  I’m Cardiff born and raised.  My gran was prefacing sentences with ‘bloody Torchwood’ long before I was born.”_

“Well, we _are_ the worst-kept secret in Cardiff.”  Ianto could tell already that he was going to like the young copper. 

_“Well, what can we do for Torchwood today?  Another one of your spooky-do’s?”_

“You could say that, yes.  I simply wanted to warn you that you may be getting some strange complaints about the demolition site at the old St. Teilo’s…noises, lights, that sort of thing.”

_“Sounds like fun,”_ Andy drawled.  _“I’ll inform the DCI, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.”_

“Thank you for your cooperation, DC Davidson,” Ianto said, laughing.

As he was speaking, the dragon felt another tickle from the Rift, this one a little stronger than anything else so far.  Yes, things were gearing up, and it would only get worse.

_“You’re welcome, Mr. Jones.  Does this mean you’ll start taking me to lunch, like you did Di Swanson?  I’m rather fond of kebabs, and there’s a great shop down near the Bay.”_

“We’ll see, Detective Constable.  Although I suspect you’ll be a somewhat cheaper date than Inspector Swanson is.”  Since Kathy and Toshiko had started dating, Ianto’s lunches with the inspector had dwindled to almost none.  Ianto didn’t mind; after all, Kathy had someone more important to meet for meals now.

It meant that he no longer saw Jack jealous over a lunch date, though. 

Well, Ianto would have to see about that.

Besides, it would be worth their while to get to know Andy Davidson.  If he was going to be Kathy’s partner then it might be a good idea to see just how he reacted to certain things.  He was certain to see items and events that he shouldn’t, after all.

Andy chuckled.  _“Mate, I’m bound to be easier to please than DI Swanson.  Although that’s just between us, okay?  I like my life just fine.”_

“I understand completely, and my lips are sealed.”

_“Thanks.  And I’ll let you know if we do get any weird reports.  We’ll keep well away from the area.”_

“We’d appreciate it.  And if you could do something about the curious…?”

_“Yeah, yeah...that goes without saying.  Just try to get things wrapped up before Swanson gets back, okay?  I’d like to report that things were quiet while she was gone.”_

“I think we can promise that.  Have a good day, Constable Davidson.”

_“Well, I was until you dropped this into my lap.”_ A heavy, put-upon sigh echoed down the line. 

Ianto disconnected the call, shaking his head.  He didn’t turn, sensing that Jack was standing right behind him.  “DC Davidson is taken care of,” he reported.

Usually when Jack approached him from behind, it was the prelude to his mate putting his arms around him.  This time, however, Jack didn’t, and while Ianto knew it was because Tommy was in the Hub the dragon still missed the physical connection.  “Good.  Hopefully that means we won’t have any problems with civilians getting in the way now.”

Ianto did turn then.  Jack simply stood there, his hands in his pockets, and there was something in his eyes that had Ianto wanting to hug him.  And yet he didn’t dare, and it bothered him more than a little.  “Is Tommy still on the phone with Tosh?”

Jack shook his head.  “No, he’s sitting at my desk looking as if the world just ended for him.”

“In a way, it has,” Ianto pointed out.  “He’s going to have to go back into that war, and now the one person he was closest to isn’t going to be here to say goodbye.  Not that I blame Tosh,” he hastened to add.  “She deserves her own life, and nothing could ever happen between her and Tommy anyway.  Still, I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him, even though this is the end of his journey with us.”

“He needs to go home, but honestly…there’s no telling what he’s going to face back in his own time.  You know as well as I do that he was in the hospital for shellshock…and not a lot really recovered from that.  Nowadays we all know differently, know how to treat PTSD and to take care of those suffering from it, but back then…”  Jack sighed, his eyes sad.  “I guess we won’t know anything more until the sealed orders open.   Damnit, I hate being left in the dark like this.”

Something suddenly occurred to Ianto.  “Jack, you’ve never said if you remember anything that happened back then.  You were with Torchwood then…”

Jack shook his head somewhat harshly.  “No, I don’t recall anything.  It’s like my memories are all jumbled and fuzzy, and nothing will focus.  It has to be the time shift affecting me somehow.  What about you?  How are you feeling?”

Ianto wasn’t entirely sure.  Yes, he could sense the Rift and its shifts and twists, but this was something different.  “I’m getting some stronger vibrations from the Rift, but nothing major yet.  It’s like…an itch I can’t scratch.”  It was something more than that, but Ianto didn’t want Jack to worry; besides, he wasn’t exactly certain how to describe the sensations he was getting at the moment.

“Let me know if anything changes.  You’re sensitive to it, and I don’t want you overcome by the Rift tear.  We don’t know how badly it’s going to get yet, and it could affect you.”

Ianto nodded.  Jack had a point; his nature made him susceptible to changes in the Rift through Cardiff, and they hadn’t really had to deal with this sort of situation before.  The dragon recalled how he’d felt when the paradox of the Year had affected him, and could understand Jack’s caution.  “As long as you tell me if your memories start clearing.”

“I can do that.  Besides, I wish they would.  I’d really rather know what’s going to happen than stumble around blindly like this.”

The office door opened, keeping Ianto from saying what he’d planned.  They both turned, and saw Tommy standing there, looking bereft. 

“I’m not gonna ask if you’re all right,” Owen said, from where he stood at Toshiko’s station.

Tommy shook his head.  “Toshiko says she can’t come back.”

“Figured that would be the case, mate,” the medic answered.  He clapped a hand onto Tommy’s shoulder. 

“Toshiko says she can’t leave her family,” the soldier went on.  “I can understand that.  I know you don’t get much time off around here, but still…I was hoping, you know?”

Ianto’s heart went out to the young man, even as he was personally glad that Toshiko was making a break of things.  It couldn’t have been easy for her to make this decision, and Ianto was proud of her for it. 

Still, Tommy had cared for her, and Ianto had to know how difficult that must have been for him.  In many ways he was like Jack: afraid to get close to people because he knew he’d lose them all one day, either to death or to his having to go back to his own time.  The dragon could sympathise with both of them, although Tommy would never know just how old Ianto was. 

Telling Tommy the truth about his nature wasn’t an option.  If he remembered events when he went back to his own time, there wasn’t anything stopping him from telling Torchwood about him, and Ianto couldn’t help but wonder if the Torchwood of 1918 would have tried to find him once they’d discovered that a dragon existed somewhere, out there. 

He simply couldn’t trust Torchwood to leave him alone.  And, not knowing about the situation, the dragon would have no knowledge of what would be coming for him.  Certainly, the villagers of Ddraig Llyn would protect him, but Ianto wasn’t about to put his friends into danger like that. 

No, it was best that Tommy didn’t know.  If he didn’t know, he couldn’t tell.

“I think we all need to get out of here,” Jack replied.  “Tommy, certainly there’s something you’d like to do on your last night in the future?”

The haunted look the young man wore diminished somewhat.  “I dunno,” he answered.  “Maybe a film?  Or a pub somewhere?  I haven’t had pizza since yesterday…although that was a year ago for all of you.”

“We can do whatever you want,” Ianto said, smiling. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Owen added.  “A boys’ day out.  I could use a couple of pints, to be honest.”

“You could always use a couple of pints,” the dragon teased, heading toward the coat rack in Jack’s office for the greatcoat.

“Are you calling me a drunk?” Owen demanded, and while he would have sounded angry to anyone else Ianto could hear the laughter behind the words.

“Only calling it as I see it.”  Ianto returned.  “Your coat, sir.”

Jack turned, and Ianto helped him into the coat.  And, if Ianto’s hands lingered just a little longer than was proper, he wasn’t about to bring attention to himself over it.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty darned explicit, just so you know...

**_18 July 2008_ **

****

In silent agreement, Jack, Ianto, and Owen all decided to let Tommy choose what he wanted to do.

The young soldier chose to just walk around first, wanting to see what had changed since he’d been awakened last year.  Jack couldn’t blame him; he and Ianto were both well aware of how quickly the world around a person could change just like that, and they were seeing it every day.  Tommy, though…just how jarring was it to witness such wholesale differences in what would have felt like a single day? 

The four men had lunch at their local, and then Tommy asked about films that were playing.  They ended up watching some superhero movie starring that guy from _Independence Day …_ what could Jack say?  He got a laugh out of most alien incursion movies, and could recall many of them, especially when he’d watched them at home with Ianto who got a kick out of his critiques on the aliens’ various invasion techniques and uses of technology in said plans. 

He did actually enjoy the big hero speech by the president in _Independence Day,_ although the man had really needed a hero coat to pull it off to perfection.  It really was his one and only nitpick of that particular scene.  Ianto had simply rolled his eyes at Jack’s assertion, while Jack decided that mentioning Ianto’s opinions on the movie _Dragonheart_ simply wasn’t worth getting banned to the sofa.

The movie wasn’t too bad in the beginning but Jack felt it lacked toward the end.  They had to shush Owen a couple of times during it, his sarcastic asides drawing the attention of the few who had managed to sneak off during the work day and catch the movie.  The last thing Jack wanted was for them to get kicked out, not when it seemed as if Tommy was enjoying himself.

It was hard though, sitting next to Ianto and not being able to hold his hand.  Even in the darkness of the cinema, they couldn’t risk Tommy catching them.  He did, though, often brush Ianto’s fingers in his quest for more popcorn.

If they happened to reach into the bucket at the same time, well…

After the movie, Tommy decided he wanted to go shopping for something to leave Toshiko when he went back to his own time.  As much as he was enjoying his day out, Jack could tell that he was missing Toshiko and was wishing that she had come home from her ‘family business’.  Although he didn’t mention it, Jack knew that Tommy was thinking that Jack should have ordered her back, but there was no way he would even consider doing it.  Toshiko needed this time away, to be with Kathy and her lover’s family, to rest and recharge from that Year.  They might have been stuck in the valley during everything that went on, but it had still been stressful, and if she hadn’t requested the time off then Jack would have insisted, and he knew Ianto felt the same.

Both of them were very protective of their team.  Not that they would actually say anything to Owen about it, knowing how the acerbic doctor would react.  It made Jack want to laugh.

They ended up at Cardiff Mall.  Tommy had apparently never been taken to a mall before, and it took all three of them to get him to move once they’d stepped inside.  Jack could understand, coming from that same time as the young man did, and knowing that such excess wasn’t the norm during wartime.  Just one more style of culture shock.

Jack had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow, but he knew it was a good thing that Tommy would be going back.  Honestly, he wasn’t sure why the young soldier had coped as well as he seemed to be doing.

Tommy eventually found what he was looking for, so the men retired to a pub for dinner, and then several friendly yet cutthroat rounds of pool.  Apparently Tommy was a bit of a shark, and he bashfully admitted that Toshiko had taught him the last time he’d been awake. 

Toshiko had had three years – three Tommy-days – to get to know him, and it had meant a lot to him that someone had cared enough to show him the things that he’d been missing.  Jack was proud of his technician, but at the same time he could see just why Tommy had fallen for her so quickly.  He felt guilty for not doing more in the years before Toshiko had joined his team, even though he knew he’d done what he could. 

It was later that evening that they left the pub, Tommy a bit tipsy and leaning heavily on Owen, who complained but didn’t seem to really mind.

“We’ll need to get a cab to get back to the Hub,” Ianto said, smiling slightly as Tommy threw an arm around Owen’s shoulders, grinning somewhat manically.

“There’s no rule that says he needs to go back, is there?” Owen asked, propping the young soldier up.

“What did you have in mind?”  Jack inquired. 

“Let me take him back to my place,” the medic answered.  “Let his last night in the future be away from the place that he’d been held for so long.”

“Why Owen,” Ianto teased, “I didn’t know you were so sentimental.”

Owen rolled his eyes.  “I just wanna get the money back he won off me at the pool table, and to do that he gets a crash course on my Playstation.”

Tommy stared at Owen.  “I wanna learn the Playstation…whatever that is.”

“See?  He’s a glutton for punishment.”

Jack could see beyond Owen’s bluster, and knew this was more for Tommy than anyone else.  Personally, he was glad of it, knowing that Tommy deserved a bit of freedom.  “Sure, go ahead.  Just be back at the Hub by 0630.”

“Bloody hell,” Owen groused.  “That’s too fucking early, Harkness.  Some of us actually like to sleep.”

Jack didn’t say anything, he just quirked an eyebrow in Owen’s direction.  The medic sighed, sounding put upon, and wrangled his guest toward the nearest cab.   “See ya at o’dark thirty, then.”

Jack watched as Owen and Tommy got into their cab, and it drive away.  “All right,” he said, turning back to his lover, “just what did you have to do with that?”

Ianto managed to look completely innocent.  “I don’t know what you mean.”

“So you’re following Owen into the mens’ wasn’t to convince him to take Tommy off for the night?”

The innocent look morphed into one that said Ianto was pleased with himself.  “It’s not fair that Tommy have to spend the night in the Hub,” he pointed out.  “Owen just happened to agree with me, which is of course why I had to tease him about it.”

“Of course.”  Jack turned on his heel and headed back toward the Hub; they were within easy walking distance and the weather was fine.  “And certainly it had nothing to do with the fact that we haven’t had much alone time all day and you were looking for any excuse.”

“Nothing whatsoever.”  Ianto matched his stride, reaching out and taking Jack’s hand in his. 

A warm glow bloomed in Jack’s chest.  “I didn’t think so.”  He squeezed the dragon’s hand in response.

They only garnered a couple of stares as they strolled along, but Jack didn’t care.  This century was still so very backward, but he knew that, not that far into the future, that things would change, and he could wait for it as long as Ianto was beside him.  

“So,” Ianto murmured, “this time tomorrow, Tommy will be back in his own time.”

“Yes, he will.”  It was for the best, even if Jack had no idea what was going to happen to the soldier once he got there. 

“Would you go back to yours, if you could?”

Jack was surprised by the question.  “Why, would you miss me?” He tried to joke, to play it off, but there was something in Ianto’s voice…something he didn’t really want to identify. 

“Yep,” the dragon answered simply, holding Jack’s hand a little tighter, as if he were afraid Jack would pull away.

Jack wouldn’t, and he couldn’t let Ianto doubt that.  “I left home a long time ago,” he admitted, glancing over at his mate.  “There were times I didn’t even know where I belonged, but then that doesn’t really matter anymore.”

“You…you don’t get lonely?”

“I won’t lie…there were times when yes, I did.  But going home wouldn’t change that.  Besides, being here…I’ve seen things I’ve never dreamed I’d see.  I’ve met people I never would have met if I’d just stayed where I was…including a certain dragon of my acquaintance.  And I wouldn’t change that for the world.” 

Jack felt he couldn’t have been more honest if he’d tried.  Yes, finding himself in the far past and immortal had been a shock, and he’d been angry and scared and terribly lonely, but that had all changed when he’d met Ianto on the side of that mountain, singing a song of mourning for his own lost people.   Both of them hurting and alone.

They’d never be alone again, as long as they were together.

Ianto suddenly tugged Jack to the side and into the mouth of an alley.  He didn’t go far; just enough to push Jack up against the bricks and kiss him.

Jack would never get tired of kissing Ianto.  He pulled the dragon closer, hands on his mate’s human hips, fitting their bodies together like the interlocking pieces of a puzzle.  Ianto’s hands cupped Jack’s face, his lips moving against Jack’s, teasing his mouth open and darting his tongue within, slowly and possessively claiming Jack as his own once more. 

Jack adored it when Ianto was possessive.

He couldn’t help but moan when Ianto finally pulled away, his eyes faded into their dragon aspect and his pupils blown.  “We need to get back to the Hub,” he whispered, “or else I’m going to strip you right here and make love to you and risk scarring some poor constable for life when we get arrested for public lewd behaviour.”

Jack laughed breathlessly.  “Goddess, yes.  Take me back to the Hub.”  The Hub was closer than their home, and he found he couldn’t wait that long to have his dragon’s hands on him. 

Ianto took a step back, and Jack couldn’t help but notice just how wrecked he looked.  His eyes changed back to human, and Jack missed seeing them as they naturally were. 

Ianto grabbed onto Jack’s hand once more, and both men left the relative shelter of the alley and made their way toward the Hub, the dragon leading the way.  Jack easily kept up, his heart racing more than it properly should at the exertion. 

There were times when Jack just didn’t understand why Ianto had chosen him, but at that moment he didn’t question it.  Ianto had, and was with him for the long haul – and for them, that meant thousands if not millions of years – and that was the only important thing.

Jack wasn’t even aware when they got to the Plass; he was so focused on his mate that he simply hadn’t paid attention to his surroundings.  They took the lift down into the Hub proper, and then Ianto was tugging him toward his office, where he still had a bunk under the floor.  “We aren’t going to your hoard room?” he asked, confused but not fighting the pull on his hand.

“I want to touch you with my human hands,” Ianto answered, his voice rough with need. 

Jack wasn’t about to argue.

He loved Ianto’s true form; loved touching the silk-hard scales and stroking his mate toward ecstasy.   It was one of the reasons he’d had special toys made, because nothing quite made Jack orgasm so fast as to see the dragon come undone under his hands and mouth and knowing that he’d been able to do that so easily.

But there were times when Jack needed Ianto’s human body against his, with his higher-than-normal body heat and his talented fingers and his oh-so responsive and sensitive skin.   He needed to feel Ianto moving within him, on top of him, covering him as if he were protecting Jack from the outside world.

They hadn’t used his bunker since Jack had moved into Ianto’s house, but he knew for a fact that the dragon had kept it clean.  Ianto had to release Jack’s hand in order to unlock the hatch, but once it was up, he turned and met Jack’s gaze, his irises and pupils once more dragon-shaped.

He moved into Jack’s personal space, so close Jack could feel his heat even through his coat.  Ianto raised his hands and slid the greatcoat from Jack’s shoulders, tossing it with unerring aim onto the sofa that sat against the far wall.

Jack stood still and let Ianto do whatever he wanted, his heart racing and his breathing sharp in the silent space.  Nimble fingers undressed Jack slowly, stroking down newly-revealed skin; he couldn’t stop the gooseflesh from forming in the path of those touches, and his nipples hardened practically on their own.

Ianto’s gaze was concentrated on what he was doing, as if he were memorising every inch of Jack’s body.  He couldn’t help but shiver under the strength of that regard, knowing that those exotic eyes and soft touches were only for him; they would only ever be for him. 

The quiet singing suddenly filled the office, and while Jack had no clue what the song meant, he could hear the love and devotion within the rumbled words.  What that singing did to him…Jack wasn’t even certain he could have called it a kink, because that was the farthest thing from his mind.  He didn’t sing every time, and when Ianto did it was special, it meant something to the dragon that went above and beyond the physical bonds between them. 

Jack wondered if he could come just from the song alone.

Once Jack was undressed, Ianto kept touching him, and he felt as if he was being cherished as something special and unique and completely loved.  The song wrapped around them both, and as much as Jack wanted to kiss him he didn’t want the singing to stop. 

He was so aroused by the time Ianto stepped back and began removing his clothes that it was impossible for him to stand there and simply watch.  He helped Ianto remove his clothing, as careful with the suit as Ianto had been with Jack’s very skin.  Nothing was said as both of them descended to Jack’s bunk, the dragon pushing him onto his back and his slightly heavier body holding him down as he began another, very gentle, exploration of Jack’s body, this time using his mouth as well as hands to bring Jack closer and closer to climax.

The song might have died away, but somehow it still thrummed within Jack’s bones, and he arched up until his mate’s touch, moaning softly as the caresses continued down his chest, across his stomach, and into the crease where his legs joined to his waist.  Hot breath blew across the head of his cock, and Jack had to hold on, not to orgasm yet, not until Ianto was inside him.

He wanted to beg for it, to beg for release, but the very atmosphere they were creating between them prevented him from breaking the silence that had grown up in this, their personal space.

 Jack lost himself to Ianto’s touch, spiraling upward into the unheard song that still sang within him.  His very skin was becoming sensitised to his mate’s attentions, and Jack gladly gave up the last of his coherent thought.

He wasn’t even aware that he was singing until Ianto’s finger breached him.

Jack didn’t know where the song was coming from, but he let it, needing his mate’s touch too much to care.  Fingers prepared him, and he opened his legs to his lover, letting Ianto do whatever he wanted to him.

When Ianto’s overheated cock pressed inside, Jack practically lunged off the bunk, wrapping his arms around his mate and pulling him tight against his chest, even as Ianto began to thrust.

Another song joined his, and the unknown words spiraled between them.  Jack’s consciousness followed, going higher and higher, and a small part of himself wondered if this was what the mating flight felt like; this loss of control, this power that had him in its grasp as he rose to meet his mate in orgasm.

The song faded as Jack came back to himself, to look up at Ianto.  There was such a look of tenderness on his mate’s face that Jack found himself smiling softly.  He reached up and ran his fingers along one cheek, the skin familiarly over-warm and soft under his touch.  “I hope you never doubt how much I love you,” he whispered, hesitant to break the silence between them.

“I won’t,” Ianto assured him, equally as quiet.

He pressed his lips against Jack’s, almost chaste compared to what had just occurred between them.  Jack ran his hand through his mate’s sweat-dampened hair, holding him in place for just a short while longer.

“We should shut down the Hub and head home,” Ianto sighed.  He sat up slowly, while his eyes faded back to their human blue.  “We can continue this once we get there.”

Jack didn’t want to move, but he did see the sense of it.  They would have a busy day tomorrow, and it would be easier for his mate to relax in their own nest than there at the Hub, even if they went down to the hoard room. 

They rose slowly, using the tiny shower in the bunker to get cleaned up enough before re-dressing.  Ianto was finished first, and by the time Jack was done his mate had gone back up into the office above.   He tossed his used towel onto the rumpled camp bed next to the one Ianto had to have discarded, and then climbed the ladder and emerged into his office.

He was slightly surprised to see that Ianto hadn’t begun dressing yet; instead, his mate was standing next to Jack’s desk, a sheaf of papers in his hand and a frown on his face.

“What is it?” Jack asked, concerned.  He joined Ianto by the desk, noticing in that moment that the time-sealed box containing the information on Tommy had opened.

“I must have been too distracted to notice whatever Rift spike had caused the box to open,” the dragon answered, sounding very unsure.

Ianto’s tone was ringing every internal alarm Jack had.  “What is it?”

“It’s our orders regarding Tommy,” his mate said, looking up from his perusal of the papers. 

“What’s wrong?” Jack stepped even closer, cupping Ianto’s elbow with his hand in an attempt to support him.

Ianto didn’t say anything.  He handed the papers to Jack, who rifled through them quickly.  Everything seemed in order…

Until he reached the last page.

“What the hell?” he gasped, realising then why Ianto was so confused.

It was a near-perfect sketch of the dragon.

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

**_19 July 2008_ **

****

Ianto didn’t know what to do…so he panicked a little.

Later, he would realise it was actually more like a lot.

Seeing that drawing of himself in dragon form confused and appalled him.  He would never reveal himself like that to anyone, especially to any version of Torchwood that was not his own.  Yes, things were different now because of Jack’s leadership, but to show his true self to anyone else, especially to Gerald Carter and Harriet Derbyshire…no, he never would.  The consequences were…gods and goddesses, he didn’t even want to consider them.

He looked at his mate.  Jack was examining the instructions that had been left in the temporally sealed box, his face contorted into a confused frown.   Certainly if the Torchwood of 1918 had known there was a dragon out there, Jack would have been told about it?  There had been nothing in the Archives as well, nor in the original file holding the public information on the events at St. Teilo’s.  Sighting a dragon would have been a rather important happening, wouldn’t it?  Wouldn’t there be some sort of report of it?

Ianto slumped against the desk, the wood of the edge digging into his naked hip.  He paid it no heed as his mind raced, trying to work out the permutations of Torchwood knowing about him.  No one had ever come for him, but that didn’t rule out the fact that they could have searched, and simply not found him and his home.  He’d stayed pretty much in Ddraig Llyn after his family had died, only leaving every once in a while when the urge to travel struck him, and if someone had come looking during one of those few times he would have been told as soon as he’d returned.  Plus, he hadn’t travelled in the last one hundred years, mainly to avoid most of the wars that had occurred, so no one would have been able to sneak past him.

And there was the lack of records on dragons.  He’d completely overhauled the Archives when Jack and he had taken over Three, and there had only been the vague mythological references to dragons present – he’d promptly destroyed them all, since they were all grossly mistaken anyway.  He had gradually replaced them with stories from his own history, hoping that, some day, the Torchwood Cardiff Archives would be the greatest receptacle for dragon history in the world.    

Neither Gerald nor Harriet had said anything about seeing him in any of the official files that had been left about Tommy and St. Teilo’s, except for the sealed records.   There would have been something in the Archives if they had, some form of written report that would have proven there’s been some sort of search for either himself or any other dragon.

Ianto shuddered as a sudden thought crossed his mind, _What if they’d informed One of what happened?_

What if his revealing himself to Gerald and Harriet had gotten back to London?

Had Torchwood London gone looking?

He suddenly shuddered, as the next logical thought came to him.

Had they found Lisa because of what Ianto had done?  Because they were searching for _him_?

He barely heard Jack call his name as his knees hit the ground.  The pain of impact was negligible against the pain in his chest, as guilt and terror and mourning struck him hard. 

_What had happened to Lisa could have been his fault._

Records from Torchwood One had mostly been destroyed during the Battle of Canary Wharf, including the ones detailing Lisa’s capture and experimentation.  That was why he hadn’t known that Tanizaki had been one of the humans who had helped in the development of the device that had kept Lisa from transforming back into dragon form and had eventually driven her mad.  He’d asked her about her capture, but she’d never told him how it had happened, claiming that she really didn’t recall much of what had occurred before London had gotten ahold of her; whether this was a lie or not he would never know.  He _did_ know that they’d held her for decades, long before Jack had found him in Ddraig Llyn.

“Ianto!” Jack’s frightened voice finally brought him out of his self-recrimination, and he looked over at his mate, who was kneeling beside him.  There was such an expression on his face; one that the dragon wanted to soothe away, because Jack should never look that scared. 

“I…” He tried to tell Jack that he was fine, that there was no need to worry like that, but he was unable to.  Ianto shook his head, and then did the only thing he could: he leaned against his mate, resting his forehead against Jack’s cheek, and let the immortal simply hold him, selfishly accepting the comfort that Jack was offering even though his lover had no idea what was wrong.

They sat like that, on the rough carpet that was no true padding against the hard concrete of Jack’s office floor, and Ianto lost track of time.  The warmth of his mate’s skin against his calmed him, although the certainty that he had been the one responsible for Lisa’s eventual capture by Torchwood grew within him until he believed it was the only way it could have happened.

He might never truly know, but that didn’t matter.  It was the only explanation that made sense.  Otherwise, how had Torchwood One had known to even search, let alone create a device that had kept her captive?

Ianto relaxed little by little, curling up into his mate’s strong body, Jack’s arms wrapping around him protectively.  He felt he could lose himself in this embrace for an eternity, and never get tired of knowing that Jack was there, taking care of him.

But no, that was impossible.  Eventually the real world would intrude, and Ianto Jones and Jack Harkness would be needed once more.

“Want to talk about it?” Jack murmured, his fingers stroking down Ianto’s side softly, the caress quieting his restless emotions even more.

The dragon sighed.  “It…occurred to me that, if Gerald and Harriet had known about me, Torchwood One would have as well.”

Jack stiffened slightly, but he relaxed again just as quickly.  “You think they deliberately went dragon hunting, and found Lisa.”

“It makes sense.”

His arms tightened around him.  “I won’t lie and say it doesn’t, but I can tell you right now that neither Gerald nor Harriet would have risked the time lines just so Torchwood could get its grubby hands on an actual dragon.  You were there from the future, which meant they didn’t dare change anything just to report you.”

“Report me, no…but what about other dragons?  Would they have said something about there being a real dragon in the future, so there must be others?”

“It’s true that Three was much more into One’s pockets back then, but if the only record we have of you existing is in that sealed box, then there aren’t any other reports out there.  If they even thought that looking for dragons would endanger the future, they wouldn’t have done it.”

Jack sounded so certain, and Ianto wanted to believe him, but… “They found Lisa, though.  That can’t be coincidence.”

“We have no idea just how they found her, or when.  But Ianto, you also didn’t read the last page of Gerald’s report.”  One of Jack’s arms reached behind him, and Ianto could see the report that his mate must have dropped in his haste to get to him.  He dragged the papers back to him, and Ianto sat up a bit in order to let Jack rifle through them. 

The sketch looked up at him once more, and he couldn’t help the shiver that passed through him.

Jack shuffled through the report, obviously locating the page he’d been searching for.  He dragged it around, practically pushing it into Ianto’s face.

He had no choice but to take it.  It was a bit wrinkled, but perfectly legible.

 

_To Commander Torchwood Three, Cardiff;_

_As I am not certain when it became Torchwood policy to recruit dragons, Miss Derbyshire and I have agreed to remain completely silent on the matter of what we witnessed within St. Teilo’s during the time slip we experienced.  And it is obvious that the creature we saw was Torchwood; it was coaching the young man on what he needed to do, and an outsider would, of course, have had no knowledge of the Rift tears that are threatening to bring our two time zones into one.  The only record of the creature will be in these sealed orders, out of concern for the eventual repair of time._

_We also must assume that this dragon’s presence is known by Torchwood London, and while we might not agree that bringing mythical phantasmagoria into the team dynamic is the best thing for Torchwood, there must have been a reason for such a thing being done.  We will not question it, and keep this a secret from anyone else in order to preserve future events._

_However, I must stress that I completely disagree with this creature’s presence within Torchwood, and I officially request that my concerns for security be forwarded to the current Director of the Institute at the soonest opportunity.  Torchwood was created to battle such beings and to have one actively a member of the Cardiff team is a breach of protocol that I wish I could report directly in order to evict it from our organisation._

_I do vigorously demand that my objections on this subject be taking into serious consideration._

_Gerald Carter._

“Well,” Ianto sighed, putting the letter down, “they might not have liked me, but it does look as if they didn’t turn me in.”

“Good thing I’m the current Director,” Jack teased.

Ianto elbowed him in the ribs, just on general principle.

“They never said a thing,” Jack continued, “at least not to the team, and trust me when I say I’ve worked with some of the biggest gossips ever.  Even when I was non-contracted and wasn’t in the Hub all that often I heard things.  So, I think you can trust that Gerald and Harriet didn’t tell anyone, not even London.”

The sense of relief crashed through Ianto, making him sag even further against Jack.  His mate tightened his grasp, and they sat there for a few more minutes, until the dragon had his emotions under his control once again. 

He sighed.  “I’m tired of sitting on this floor.  Let’s get dressed, and I’ll make us a coffee.”

“Sounds like a plan.”  Jack clambered to his feet, and Ianto instantly missed the warmth of his mate against him.  

Jack held out his hand, and Ianto accepted the help getting up.   “We should also check the sensors out at St. Teilo’s and see what they’re reading.”  Now that he was no longer distracted, the dragon could feel the change in the Rift energy that normally rippled across his senses like a steady drizzle; the sensation was more of a itching, and there was a steady throbbing like a heartbeat against his skin.  

He raised an eyebrow at Jack.  “Apparently you’re such a good distraction I didn’t even sense the change in the Rift,” he said teasingly.

Jack frowned.  “Is it bad?”

Ianto shook his head.  “No, just…different.  Something is definitely building up to let loose.”  He moved past Jack to retrieve his trousers, which had somehow ended up on the guest chair. 

Jack stopped him by putting his arms around Ianto’s waist.  “You’ll let me know if anything changes.”  It wasn’t a request.

“You know I will.”  He twisted just enough to kiss Jack lightly, and then he broke away gently in order to get dressed.   “I’ll start the coffee.”

“And I’ll check the readings.”

They got dressed in companionable silence, and Ianto was once again glad that Jack had chosen him, and that they were mates.  His concern over Torchwood One knowing about him was fading; Jack had been convincing about the reports of his existence hadn’t made it beyond Gerald and Harriet, and he was able to relax enough to make a disgruntled noise at just how wrinkled his suit was despite Jack having been careful with it, and he forwent the jacket and tie, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows.  He then headed into the kitchen, where he put the coffee on.

Ianto doubted that they would be getting any sleep that night.  He, himself knew that while he was feeling much better about his secret being kept, he was still wired enough that he was certain that sleep would not come. 

Seeing that sketch did open up another whole can of worms…Tommy.

He’d never admitted to the young soldier that he was a dragon, simply because it wasn’t important.  Plus, no one knew exactly how going back in time would affect him, although Jack was fairly convinced that Tommy would revert back to the way he was before Torchwood had interjected itself into his life.  Sending him back with the knowledge that dragons might exist brought on the same fear he’d had when he’d seen that drawing: that, somehow, Tommy wouldn’t be able to keep the secret, that Torchwood would find out about his kind, and go on some sort of hunt. 

He hadn’t tied Lisa into that, until now.  Ianto felt almost ashamed of not recalling her.

Now, however, he and Jack would have to take into consideration Tommy knowing about his true self.  Ianto didn’t like the idea, but there really was no choice.  If what the letter said was true – and Gerald Carter wouldn’t have had a reason to lie about it – then Tommy had been accepting directions from him even though he was transformed.  That meant that this hadn’t been the first time Tommy had seen the dragon, because otherwise he would have been panicking.

So, on top of monitoring the Rift tear, they would have to figure out a way to tell Tommy that one of the people he’d grown to depend on wasn’t an actual person at all.

The coffee ready, Ianto carried his and Jack’s mugs down into the main area of the Hub, where his mate, now dressed, was standing at Toshiko’s workstation, eyes on whatever readings it was giving him.  Ianto set Jack’s mug down onto the desk, leaning over to read what was on the screen.  He couldn’t help but whistle.  “You’re really good at distracting me,” he commented, “if I missed that sort of build-up.”

Jack leered up over his shoulder.  “I’m really just that good.”

Ianto rolled his eyes good-naturedly.  “Humble, too.”  He shook his head.  “Where did you get that song, anyway?  I’ve never really heard anything like that from you before.”

His mate lost the teasing look.  “I don’t know,” he admitted.   “It just came to me.  I’m sure it was just something out of my imagination.”

The dragon draped his free arm around Jack’s shoulders.  “Then you have a really good imagination, since that’s one of the older of the mating songs.”

“Really?” Jack looked pensive.  “I must have picked it up from you, then.”

Ianto wasn’t so sure of that, but he held his tongue.  He hadn’t intentionally taught Jack any of the songs of his people, but how could he have learned it otherwise?

“How long do you think it will be before the tearing starts in earnest?” he asked instead, settling in next to his mate.  The readings were very much stronger than they’d been before, and Ianto was still somewhat surprised that he’d missed it gaining in strength while he’d been with Jack.  But then, this was Jack he was thinking of.  Ianto wasn’t ashamed to admit that he tended to block out the rest of the world when he was intimate with his mate.

“If I’m reading this right, then it’s definitely today.  I can’t give anything closer than that.  At least we now know what to do to stop it.”  Jack glanced up at Ianto.  “And we’ll have to figure out a way to let Tommy in on your secret without freaking him out.”

Ianto sighed.  He was well aware of Tommy’s PTSD, or what had been called shellshock back in the day.  The young man seemed fine, but there was no telling how he would respond to seeing something so out of his frame of reference.

But then, Gerald had claimed that Tommy had accepted orders from him in dragon form.  Ianto had no idea why he’d transformed, but he had, and he would have to deal with that when the time came.

“As soon as he gets in,” Ianto murmured.  “We’ll tell him then.”

He couldn’t help but be nervous about it, but he knew that Jack and Owen would have his back, no matter what.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um...hi! I am sorry this is so delayed, but my hard drive crashed and real life got in the way and all sorts of stuff. At least the tech managed to save most of my documents, or else I'd be weeping buckets. Hope it's worth the wait.

 

**_19 July 2008_ **

****

Jack stretched his back as he got up out of his desk chair, the claxon of the cogwheel door signaling Owen and Tommy’s arrival at the Hub.  He glanced at his watch; for one of the few times in his life, Owen was exactly on time. 

If things weren’t so serious he might have made a comment about that.

Instead, he headed over to this office door, sticking his head out.  Owen and Tommy were making their way across the Hub toward the boardroom, and Jack called out to them in order to stop them.

“Owen, can you come in for a minute?” he requested.  Then he turned to their guest.  “Tommy, if you wouldn’t mind waiting in the boardroom?  Ianto’s got breakfast set up already and is just down in the Archives for a second.”

“Sure, Jack,” the young soldier agreed, flipping him a loose salute and then moving past Owen and toward his destination.

“What’s up, Jack?” Owen asked, coming up to the office.

Jack waved him inside, and then shut the door behind him.  “Have a seat.”

The medic did so, catching sight of the now-opened container on Jack’s desk.  “I see the orders are out now.”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”  Jack took his own seat, handing over the papers to Owen. 

He watched as Owen read through then, nodding at various places.  He made his way through all of the documents, and Jack knew exactly when he reached the pencil drawing.  Owen’s eyes widened, and he cursed.  “Well, this changes things a bit, doesn’t it?”

“It does, yes.”

“I thought Ianto wasn’t gonna reveal his true self to Tommy.”

“He hadn’t planned to, no.  But this tells us he does.”

Owen nodded.  “How’s he handling it?”

Trust Owen to get right to the heart of the matter.  “Better than when he first saw that sketch.”  He explained Ianto’s behaviour and his suppositions about Lisa and how Torchwood One had found her. 

“Yeah, I can see why he’d think that,” Owen agreed.  “Glad you set him right, though.  Last thing Ianto needs is more angst and drama than he already carries around with him.” 

Jack snorted.  “I think that goes for all of us.”

“Not kidding there.  So, what’s next?”

“Next, Ianto lets Tommy into a secret he hadn’t planned on.  And I might have calmed Ianto’s nerves down about Harriet and Gerald not saying anything to One about him, but Owen…I have to be honest here.  My memories of what happened back then started go fuzzy the moment the Rift tearing began.”

“And you don’t think Ianto or anyone else needed to know that?” Owen demanded, setting the documents back down on the desk.

“I did tell him, back when all this started,” Jack exclaimed, running his fingers almost violently through his hair.  “But I do know one thing: I didn’t know there were dragons before I met Ianto.  Hell, I thought he was some sort of ancient alien genetic experiment for a long while!  So no one ever told me about there being some sort of future dragon back when all this shit started happening.  Besides, I can’t see either Gerald or Harriet saying anything since time was being affected.  Duty was too important to them despite their personal feelings.  You saw the letter Gerald wrote.”

“Yeah, fucking bastard.  Past Torchwood didn’t give a piss about innocents, and couldn’t see past the ends of their bloody noses where anything different was concerned.  Not very forward-thinking either, believing that shit wouldn’t change in the ninety-odd years since this business with Tommy.”  Owen looked disgusted, anger tainting his words and making him curse even more than normal.  “Makes me glad you’re in charge now, mate.  None of that _‘If it’s alien, it’s ours’_ bullshit.  I don’t even wanna know what would’ve happened with Katie if it had been that way back then.”

Jack knew.  Torchwood would have taken Katie’s body and interred it in the deepest vault, and Owen would never have known what had become of her.  Owen would have lost every memory he’d had of his time with her, and that would have been the end of it.  He wouldn’t have been offered a place, as Jack had done.  And Torchwood would never have known what a fantastic operative Owen Harper would become.

Now that would have been a shame and a wasted opportunity.

“Does Ianto have any idea how he’s gonna do it?”

They’d talked about that very thing, as they’d discussed what was going to happen during the coming day.  Neither had gotten any sleep last night, but Jack had known that sketch had wormed its way into his mate’s thoughts and wouldn’t let him rest until everything was done and things could go back to normal…or as normal as things got for Torchwood.

“He thinks like ripping off a bandage,” Jack answered.  “Quick and get it over with.”

Owen snorted.  “I’ll have the portable defibrillator handy for when Tommy goes into cardiac arrest.”

Jack rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, just don’t joke about that sort of thing in front of Ianto.  He’s on edge as it is.”

“C’mon, Jack!  If I didn’t give him grief, he’d think there was something wrong!”

Owen did have a point.

“Besides,” he went on, “you laid all this on me without my first cup of coffee.  I won’t guarantee what I say before then.”

Jack couldn’t help but laugh.  He got up. “C’mon, Ianto will have made it up to the boardroom by now, and I’m sure he’ll have something waiting for you.”

He picked up the paperwork from the once-sealed container, and followed Owen out and down to the boardroom where Ianto was indeed waiting for them.  Tommy had already tucked into the breakfast that had been laid out, sipping his tea as they entered.  The young man looked just a bit green about the gills, so to speak, but other than that there was no sign that he’d gone back to Owen’s drunk last night.

Ianto had spent the time before Tommy and Owen had arrived in the Archives, retrieving the box that held the clothes that the young soldier had been wearing when he’d been brought from St. Teilo’s hospital back in 1918.  Tommy hadn’t changed yet, still in the clothes that the dragon had purchased for him to have this time around, but he would as soon as they were done.  He’d managed to demolish a plate full of eggs and bacon before they’d arrived.

Also, lying on the table in front of Jack’s chair was the device that the documents had said they’d need.  The Rift Key was a somewhat innocuous-looking thing, resembling something out of a clockwork with its bronze fittings and the winder set at one end.  It certainly didn’t look as if it would help stitch time back together.

Jack met his mate’s eyes as Ianto set a fresh mug of coffee down onto the table.  The horrible guilt and sadness were gone, but those blue eyes still looked very old, and Jack suddenly didn’t care what Tommy thought about them; he reached out and hugged Ianto tightly.

Ianto stiffened for just a second, and then he wrapped his arms around Jack, accepting the comfort that Jack was offering.  He felt a deep sigh deflate his mate’s body, and Jack held on tighter, not wanting to let him go.

“Hey,” Owen snarked, “it’s all well and good that you’re glad to see each other, but I could really use some coffee here before we get things started.  It’s way too early in the morning for the touchy-feely shit.”

Jack huffed a laugh, and Ianto pulled away, a smirk on his features.  “I’m sure Jack wouldn’t mind giving you a hug as well,” the dragon said, meeting sarcasm with sarcasm.  Jack was glad that Owen was making light of it, they really didn’t want to make Tommy any more uncomfortable than he already was…or would be as soon as Ianto revealed his true self to the soldier.

“Yeah, no thanks.  I’m perfectly capable of revelling in my own angst and not need a hug from Dad.”

“You better not be intimating I’m the mother of this group...again.”

“Just calling it as I see it, Tea Boy.”

“If I’m the mother, then I would be perfectly within my rights to take away your internet access while at work and to regulate the number of cups of coffee you have per day as a punishment.”

“Oi!  Just why are you punishing me for?”

“For talking back to your parents, of course.”

Tommy was laughing, and Jack made a mental note to thank Owen for diffusing the situation with both Ianto and Tommy.  Getting the dragon back on an even keel was really just a bonus.

“Alright, children,” Jack got in the middle of them.  “It’s time to get to business, now.”

Ianto took a coffee to Owen, and then sat in his usual chair at Jack’s left.  Owen immediately stopped grumbling on his first sip, taking his own seat next to Tommy.  “I don’t know how you can drink coffee,” the young man murmured, finishing up his toast.

Owen would have said something cutting, but Jack stopped him by beginning the briefing.  “According to the letter that was in the sealed container, in three hours there will be a brief moment when both times will mesh, and Tommy can exist in both times.  This will happen just before the time slip completes.”

“You’ll need to be inside the hospital at that time,” Ianto added, “ready to step from this time and back into the past.”

“So I’ll need to be inside the time shift then,” Tommy concluded, leaving a half-eaten piece of toast on his plate.

“And you can close the time shift,” Jack said. 

“What about when the time shift’s closed?” Tommy asked.

“Then you’ll be back in 1918, where you belong.”

“For good?”  He looked worried at the prospect.

Jack nodded.  “Yep.  You’re the only one who can do this.  We brought you from 1918 to now, and when you go back, your life will be like a thread, stitching time back together again.”

“A stitch in time,” Tommy murmured.

“Okay,” Owen agreed, “that makes sense.  But how’s it supposed to work?”

Jack held up the device.  “This is a Rift Key.  Once Tommy’s inside the time shift, he can close the door behind him.”

“And that’s it?” Tommy asked.  “I’m gone?”

“That’s it,” Jack confirmed.

Ianto scooted the box that held Tommy’s clothes across the table.  “We’ve kept these in the Archives.  They’re what you were wearing in the hospital when Torchwood took you.”

Tommy played with the string that held the box closed.  “I hope moths hadn’t gotten to them,” he tried to joke, but it fell a bit flat.

Jack felt terrible for the young man.  To have all of this put squarely on his shoulders, and to have to be sent back into all that…no, Jack wished they didn’t have to do this to Tommy. 

But it was the only thing they could do, in order to save the world from the Rift fracturing beyond all repair.

This was where his future knowledge did come in handy.  Jack knew damned well that the world didn’t end in 2008.  But he also knew that all of this had to have already occurred in order for Earth to be around back in his birth time.

He didn’t have to like it, though.

Tommy opened the box and pulled out a set of striped pyjama bottoms.  “I’m saving the world in pyjamas?  Just how daft is that?”  This time the joke wasn’t quite so flat, and Owen snorted in response. 

“I once saved the world naked,” Jack volunteered, hoping to ease the atmosphere in the room just a bit more. 

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Ianto rolled his eyes.

“I’ll think I’ll stick with the pyjamas,” Tommy chuckled, tucking the bottoms back into their box.  “I’d hate to embarrass myself while doing something incredibly heroic.”

“There’s…also something else you need to know,” Jack said.  His eyes darted toward Ianto, and his mate nodded slightly.

“What else is there?”

The captain sighed.  “You won’t be alone in that moment when both times exist together.  We found that out when the orders were unsealed.”

Tommy frowned.  “But none of you can go back with me, even I know that.”

“That’s true,” Jack agreed.  “But someone can be with you in that moment and still return to the future.”  To be honest, he’d been worried about that, and hadn’t wanted to say anything to Ianto about it.  What if his mate got stranded in the past when the times separated again? 

He rubbed his wrist strap absently.  The worn leather felt familiar under his fingers.  If only it was working…

Wait a second.

Jack lifted the cover, glancing at the tiny buttons inside.  He’d programmed it to go into lock-out mode after Martha had used it to escape the _Valiant_ when the Master had opened the paradox and released the Toclafane, simply because he hadn’t wanted it to get into the wrong hands.  But Toshiko had been able to get it to work enough to use as a communicator…

“Jack?”

He glanced up, meeting Ianto’s questioning gaze.  “I’ll tell you later,” he said, getting his mind back on the task at hand: explaining to Tommy about Ianto’s true self.  “As I was saying,” he turned his attention back to Tommy, “you aren’t alone.  There was a drawing in the sealed orders of the person Gerald and Harriet see back in the past with you.”

“Okay…”  Tommy was obviously confused.

Jack decided to just show him the sketch.  He pulled it out from the sheaf of papers from the tin, sliding it across to the young man.

It was apparent that what he was seeing didn’t register with Tommy at first.  Then, his eyes widened and his eyes tracked to each of them, and Jack could read in them that he was looking for some sort of sign of a joke.  “Wait…you’re serious about this?”

“Very serious,” Ianto answered.  “The dragon is seen with you.  It’s in the report written by Gerald as well.”

“There’s no such thing as dragons,” Tommy scoffed.  “This has to be some sort of prank or something.”

Jack saw Ianto wince at the soldier’s words, but this disbelief wasn’t at all unexpected.  Being told that dragons existed would seem like someone was pulling something over on Tommy, as it was for others who weren’t open-minded enough to accept it.

It was actually a good thing, in Jack’s opinion.  It meant no one would be looking for his mate for nefarious reasons.  Of course, he would have had to kill anyone who’d even thought about hunting Ianto down.  No one touches his dragon.

“That’s not really true,” Ianto said softly.  “Dragons are real; they do exist.  And one of them is seen by Gerald Carter and Harriet Derbyshire back in 1918, with you.”

Tommy was frowning in confusion.  “Okay, I’m willing to accept a lot of things, cause I’ve been waking up here for the last ninety years.  But dragons…really?”

Ianto sighed, and Jack gave him a supporting nod when his mate looked at him, and he was gratified to see Owen do the same thing.  Then Ianto stood.  “Come with me, please.”   Without a backward glance, he left the boardroom.

Jack chivvied Tommy up, ushering the young soldier after Ianto.  Owen followed close behind.  “We heading down to the hoard, Jack?”

“Yep, it’s the best place for this demonstration.”  Jack had hoped that Tommy would have simply accepted what they were telling him, because of his experience with Torchwood, but he and Ianto had talked about this very thing before anyone else had gotten into the Hub.  They needed Tommy to understand and believe what they were telling him, in order to avoid a panic just at the moment when cool-headedness should prevail.  They still had no idea what would have made Ianto change into his dragon form, but they had to be prepared.

“Wait…hoard?” Tommy’s voice squeaked a little.

“Dragons do that sort of thing,” Owen pointed out.   “Haven’t you ever read any fairy tales?”  That could have sounded horribly condescending, but the medic must have held back, because it was simply a question.

“You’re really serious about this!”

“We are,” Jack affirmed.  “According to the information you apparently knew about it, because you weren’t all that upset about having a mythical creature with you.  So, you’re going to meet the dragon.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

 

**_19 July 2008_ **

****

Ianto headed down toward his hoard room, his nerves competing against the burning, prickly feel of the Rift as it fought against the tear in time that threatened the city, and the world.

To say he was edgy was a gross misstatement.  Although Ianto knew that, according to Gerald’s report, that Tommy hadn’t acted afraid of him, he still was unsettled at the idea of having to give up his secret to one more person, and this one he wouldn’t have any sort of control over once the young soldier returned to his own time.  Ianto might have accepted that Torchwood One hadn’t heard about dragons from Torchwood Three, but now there was Tommy to consider.

Had he somehow let it slip that there were dragons out in the world?  Or had Tommy simply told whoever would listen?  Ianto’s paranoia was back in full force, because Jack couldn’t remember what had happened after Tommy had gone back.  However, Jack hadn’t known about dragons, so nothing was said in front of him…

He had to shake this off.  Ianto had work to do, and it seemed there would be work for the dragon as well despite Ianto wanting to keep his true self out of it.

He and Jack had decided that the hoard room would be the best place to show Tommy the transformation, and he took the key from his pocket as he approached the door.  He felt proud of the fact that his hand didn’t shake as he twisted the key in the lock.

Pushing the door open, Ianto entered and turned on the light. Instantly he felt calmer surrounded by the part of the hoard he kept there; dragons had that hoarding instinct, and he breathed easier as he stepped even further into the large room.  It settled him somewhat.

Ianto stopped just short of the large pile of pillows and quilts in the centre of the room, turning to watch as first Owen, then Jack and finally Tommy walked through the door.  His teammates had been in there before, but of course Tommy hadn’t, and the slack-jawed look on the young man’s face was almost gratifying as the soldier took in the wealth surrounding them, neatly arranged in an aesthetically pleasing style. 

Various shades of gold made up the majority of the jewellery, and the light shimmered like fire among the trinkets.  Precious stones glittered as if the stars had been brought down into the depths of the Hub.  Weapons and books and clothing took up the rest of the shelves and cases, but the pride of the hoard where his sister, Sabrina’s, mating posts, one in each corner. 

After a moment of just staring, Tommy exclaimed, “You weren’t kidding about a hoard!”

“No, we weren’t,” Jack answered.  He gave the time-displaced soldier a little push, getting him to step into the room a little farther. 

Tommy stumbled a bit, catching his balance against a shelf.  “All right,” he said, once he was steady on his feet, “I get it.  Your dragon has a hoard.  But it can’t be that big, can it?  ‘Cause I don’t see it getting in here on its own.  It’ll be too big!”  There was still a slight tone of incredulity in his voice.

“Well,” Ianto said, glad that his voice didn’t crack or do anything to embarrass him, “that’s where the magic comes in.”

With those words, he triggered his transformation.

The rush of pain/pleasure of his body shifting and changing, and of his wings forming, fought with the sickly/tingling of the overstimulated Rift for dominance.  Ianto threw his head back, wanting to roar but not daring to in the confined space, knowing that it could spook Tommy more than he was bound to be after he settled into his true shape. 

It had never felt like this before.  It was like he was a vessel that the power of the Rift wanted to fill, but his own personal magic was already sloshing over the rim of his body’s chalice.  It was more pain than pleasure this time, and the dragon battled for supremacy.

The dragon finally won.

He looked down at the three men in his hoard room, Tommy’s reaction specifically.  He’d gone pale, and for a split second the dragon thought he’d stopped breathing. 

Then his knees buckled, and it was only Jack and Owen being prepared for an extreme reaction that kept Tommy from crumpling to the hard concrete.  The dragon settled onto his nest, curling his forelegs underneath him and lowering his head to Tommy’s level.  “Now you know,” he rumbled quietly. 

Tommy didn’t say anything for a long time.  He simply stared at the dragon as he made himself more comfortable on the pillows and quilts.  Ianto was outwardly calm, but inside he was still so incredibly nervous at the young man’s silence.  Would he accept what his eyes were telling him?  Would he truly be fine with having his world turned upside down?

“Um,” Tommy finally said, his voice a near squeak, “you’re not gonna eat me, are you?”

Owen barked out a laugh.   “Nah, Dragon Boy only eats virgins, so you’re safe.”

It shouldn’t have been possible for Tommy to get any paler, but he did.

“Owen,” the dragon sighed, “please don’t traumatise Tommy any more than he already is.”

“Go ahead and touch him,” Jack urged.  “He won’t hurt you.”

Suiting words to actions, Jack moved forward and ran his hand along the dragon’s flank, and Ianto let his eyes slide shut in enjoyment.  As usual when his mate touched him he had the immense urge to purr like a cat.

Another hand tentatively joined Jack’s, and the dragon opened his eyes, turning his head to look down.  Tommy had gotten up enough courage to do as Jack suggested, and had his fingers splayed against his green scales. 

Ianto smiled, but kept his lips firmly over his razor-sharp teeth.  He didn’t want to scare Tommy away.  “I am the last of my kind,” he explained.  “There will be no more after me.”  That thought still caused him pain, but having Jack as his mate made it somewhat better.  “I met Jack on the side of a mountain, and have been with him – with Torchwood – ever since.”  He didn’t want Tommy to realise what Ianto had meant by being with Jack, since this was enough of a shock for now.

“You’re warm!” Tommy exclaimed.  “I thought lizards were all cold.”

“I’m not a lizard,” Ianto said primly.  “I am a dragon.  There’s a difference.”

“He’s really pretty vain about that sort of thing,” Jack shared, giving him a wink. 

“I kinda thought I’d seen everything,” Tommy confessed.  “Seen a lot of stuff when I’m woken up, and I had to accept all that.  But this…”

“You’re taking it pretty well, mate,” Owen congratulated.

“Actually, I’m too confused to break down at the moment!”

Jack laughed.  “That’s a pretty good response, if you ask me.”

Tommy stepped away.  “You were never gonna say anything.” He didn’t sound accusing, and a sense of relief coursed through Ianto.

“No,” he admitted.  “I didn’t think you needed to be weighed down by that knowledge.  You still wouldn’t know, if not for that sketch.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

“Let’s get you ready to go back to your time,” Jack put in, taking Tommy by the elbow and steering out of the hoard room.  “There are still a few things I need to go over with you…”

His mate gave Owen a look full of meaning, and Owen nodded as the pair passed him and headed back out into the corridor. 

Once their footsteps had faded, the medic stalked up to the dragon, his arms crossed belligerently.  “Okay, Dragon Boy…what was that all about?”

Ianto knew exactly what Owen was talking about.  He could have guessed that the discomfort of his changing had been obvious to his friend and his mate.  “The growing Rift energy is beginning to affect my personal magic,” he explained.  “It…interfered with my change a bit.”

“A bit?  I’ve seen your transformation too many times not to recognise when something was wrong with it.  You say it’s the peaking Rift energy?”

The dragon nodded.

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me.  You’re already sensitive to it and know when there’s a Rift spike even before Tosh’s toys do.  I should’ve expected something like this.”

The dragon shrugged.  “We both should have.”

“Okay, let’s see you change back and we’ll catch up with Jack and Soldiersickle.”

Ianto reached deep within himself, toward the source of his own magic, and triggered the change back to human form,

Or, at least he tried to.

“Something’s wrong,” he admitted, suddenly very afraid.  “I can’t change back.”  He attempted it again, but the energy was overpowering his ability to transform.   He began to panic, his tail thrashing wildly and his body humming with adrenaline.

“Calm down, Ianto.  Take a deep breath and relax.”  Owen rested his hand on the dragon’s shoulder, stroking down lightly.  “You already know it’s the power of the Rift.  You just need to try to move past it and do whatever it is you do when you go back to human.”

That was easier said than done.  It was as if the time energy was overwhelming his personal power, trying to push it out and to take over.  It was just different enough to be incompatible with his magic, and it felt as if his very body was tingling with it. 

The dragon followed Owen’s advice, and took a deep breath, his sides inflating with it.  He did need to calm down, to regain control.  He was needed, and trapping himself in his own hoard room wasn’t in that plan.

There was sudden sizzle of magic, and the dragon was suddenly shrinking down into his human form, but once again it didn’t feel right.  The magic rushed outward, forcing the Rift energy away, but it wasn’t a pleasant sensation. 

Ianto had no idea how he ended up on his knees, but the pillows had helped him avoid jamming his knees on the concrete.  He turned to look up at Owen, who was kneeling beside him.  “Now that looked bloody wrong, Ianto.  If you weren’t in that fucking file I’d be confining you to the Hub until the crisis is past.”

“And I’d agree with you completely.”  Ianto knew when he was capable and when he wasn’t…he just wasn’t always good about admitting it.  “What did it look like?”

Owen helped him to his feet.  Ianto’s legs felt like jelly, but he could stand without falling over.  “You know how it’s usually smooth, right?”  At Ianto’s nod, he continued, “This time there were flashes and these tiny explosions like…okay, I’m gonna use one of Tosh’s descriptions and say it was like matter and anti-matter colliding.  Yeah, even I know what the hell that is, and that had to be what that sort of shit looks like.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”  Ianto took a hesitant step toward the door, and then another; he felt stronger after each one.  He ushered Owen out and turned off the light, locking the door behind them.  “It was my own personal magic fighting for control against the time energy.”  They walked down the corridor together.  “The magic won.”

“This time,” Owen added forebodingly.

Ianto didn’t argue with him.

 

**********

 

Looking up at St. Teilo’s made Ianto feel slightly dizzy.

The hospital was partially demolished, and construction vehicles sat around it.  The only reason work wasn’t going on was because it was Saturday, for which Ianto was very grateful.  He didn’t want to have to deal with a crew of workers in the vicinity as well as his own reactions to what the time tearing was doing to him.

The temporal energy was even stronger there, which made sense but the dragon still didn’t have to like it.  The normal feeling of the Rift was like rain on his scales; this was like walking through an ice-saturated water fall, power beating against him almost hard enough to bruise even him.   

“Come on,” Jack said, striding toward the front entrance to St. Teilo’s.  Owen followed, Tommy more reluctantly, looking out of place in his uniform jacket and pyjama bottoms.  Ianto stayed in the rear of the group, his feet dragging as they approached. 

He knew why he’d ever set foot in this place, even before knowing it would affect him.  The entire building was just… _wrong_.  Somewhere in the back of his mind a small voice was gibbering, the flight response strong.  Ianto pushed it back down until he couldn’t hear it any longer, knowing he had to do this in order to preserve time.  He _had_ to go inside because he’d already been within, according to that damning sketch that Gerald Carter had included in their sealed orders.   To ignore it would cause a paradox. 

Ianto had had enough of paradoxes to last his lifetime.

Everything had been removed from the hospital, leaving peeling paint and the smell of mould that threatened to make Ianto sneeze.  This had once been a place of healing; now it was riddled with ghosts.

Tommy stopped, his head cocking to the side as if he was listening to something.  Ianto quickly caught it; the sound of footsteps echoing through empty corridors.  Before his eyes a woman appeared, holding a lamp, her costume that of a nurse from Tommy’s time.

The alarm went off from the scanner that Jack was holding, but Ianto didn’t need to hear that in order to know the tear was leaking.  He could feel it, although it was somewhat obscured by the overall sense of the place, drowning in Time.  It was so bad he couldn’t even feel Jack at the back of his head any longer.

The building shook.

“Bloody hell!” Owen shouted.

“We’re still safe…for the time being,” Jack answered, looking down at the scanner, reading what it was telling him. 

‘You call that safe?” Owen demanded as the shaking subsided.

Tommy headed farther into the building.  Ianto turned to Jack, who looked at him, worry clear in his eyes.  The dragon nodded once, and started after the young man.

He turned just as Tommy vanished around a corner, facing both Jack and Owen.  “I’ll go with him.  Why don’t you both wait outside for me?”

His mate looked as if he wanted to argue, but instead nodded.  “If you’re not out in fifteen minutes, I’m coming back in after you.”

That was the last thing Ianto wanted, but he knew better than to argue with Jack against it.  Instead, he turned his back on them and walked deeper into the old hospital, making the same turning Tommy had. 

He soon caught up with the soldier, just as he stopped once more.  Ianto knew immediately why; the faint sound of singing floated down the corridor. The nurse with the lamp reappeared.

Tommy took off after her, and Ianto was right behind him.  Together they took another corner at speed, but the nurse was gone once more.

“Where is she?” Tommy demanded. 

“In 1918,” Ianto murmured. 

Tommy glanced in his direction, but Ianto realised he wasn’t seeing him at all.  Tommy was somewhere in the past, seeing events that Ianto could not.

“They took me,” he whispered.  “Torchwood took me.  I remember…”

With that, he was off running again. 

Ianto let him take the lead, trusting whatever Tommy was seeing to guide them.  They began passing apparitions of patients and workers both, none of them reacting to their presence.  Ianto could sense the time tear spreading wider, letting more of the past into the future, the Rift energy buffeting him as if he were trying to fly into a windstorm. 

They ended up in a large room, and with the furnishings removed Ianto couldn’t tell what it had been used for.  Tommy was breathing hard, and his hands were clenched around the Rift Key as if it were an anchor keeping him in the here and now.  His eyes were wide and frightened.  “I don’t want to go back.  I won’t do it!”

“You have to,” Ianto tried to reason with him, even as he felt so very sorry for the young man. 

Tommy just shook his head.  “If they send me back to the front, I won’t come back!”

“You don’t know that.  Anything could happen.  But right now, the world depends on you.  _Toshiko_ depends on you.”

Tommy’s head snapped back at the dragon’s words.  “She didn’t even come and see me!”

“I know, but she had to stay away, for her own sake.  Please, believe me…Toshiko cares about you, but she needs to live her own life.  Plus she couldn’t bear to see you knowing that you would be leaving.  You must know that.”

“Why me?” he moaned.  His hands went limp and he dropped the Rift Key into the floor, the sound of it harsh in the stillness.  “I’ve been shoved from pillar to post my entire life!  By the Army…by Torchwood…it’s not fair.”  He backed up until his back hit the wall, and then Tommy slid down the damaged plaster until he was seated on the ground.   

He looked so broken that Ianto’s heart couldn’t help but go out to him.  He moved forward slowly, picking up the key on the way, and then knelt beside the shivering young man.  “I know it’s not fair.  It’s terrible that you had to be put through all this.  But you’re a hero, Tommy.”  The soldier looked at him askance, unbelievingly.  “It’s true.  It’s up to you to save the world.”

“I don’t want to be a hero.”

“I have yet to meet the person who really wants that –“

His next words were cut off as he felt an oppressive wave of energy flow over and through him, along with a bright, blinding light.  Ianto couldn’t help but moan with pain as he pushed the Rift Key into Tommy’s hands and then stepped back. 

The urge to change was overpowering.  The power struck deep in his chest, and in the place where his personal magic sat, and he had no real choice.

Ianto transformed into the dragon against his will.

He wanted to curl up with the pain even as he was feeling a bit relieved that he’d had no choice to shift into his natural form.  His legs were wobbly, and he sank onto his belly despite his attempt to stay upright.

“Hello?”

The voice was unfamiliar and yet the dragon knew exactly who it was.

He looked toward Tommy, sympathy in his eyes.  “Tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Gerald Carter demanded, his voice angry.

“Tell them what to do,” he said, ignoring the question and looking directly at Tommy, who was still seated on the floor, staring at the Rift Key as if it was going to bite him.  “You’re the only one who can do it.  If you don’t, it will be the end of everything…the end of Toshiko, your friend.”

He abhorred using Toshiko against Tommy, but it was the only thing he could do.  And it seemed to work; Tommy stood, clutching the key to his chest.  He walked around the dragon, and Ianto followed him with his eyes. 

“Take me!” Tommy exclaimed.  “I’m here in the ward in 1918.  You have to take me so I can be here now!”

Gerald and Harriet didn’t move.  It was obvious they were too busy being floored by the presence of a dragon in the hospital.

“Look at me!” Tommy shouted.  “You have to take me and freeze me!  The world is at stake!”

That seemed to get their attention.    But before they could do anything, the light flared once more, and Ianto knew they were back in the future. 

He smiled sadly at Tommy.  “It’s almost time.  Please, don’t forget to use the key.  As soon as you get back into bed, use the key.”

“Tell Toshiko I love her,” the young man said.  “And I left a present for her at her workstation.”

“I’ll make sure she gets it,” the dragon vowed.

They nod to each other, acknowledging their last words.

Then an unnatural wind began to blow, and the light grew once more, this time brighter and colder than before.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**_19 July 2008_ **

****

Jack didn’t like Ianto going into that hospital without him, and he practically bounced in place as he and Owen waited for the dragon to return.

Ianto had suggested they wait outside, but Jack was incapable of leaving the building without his mate.   “You should head outside,” he told Owen, even as he began biting his thumbnail in his nervousness.

“Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Harkness,” the medic snarled.  “Ianto’s my friend, too.  And I’ll poke you with the biggest needle I have in a delicate place if you tell him I said that!”

Jack didn’t speak again, and left Owen be, grinning slightly at his comment.

Suddenly the entire building shook once more, and the sensors they’d placed around the hospital began to beep.  Jack flipped open his wrist strap while he caught Owen out of the corner of his eye fiddling with one of the PDAs that was hooked into the sensor system. 

“This is it,” Jack said, interpreting the readings he was getting.  “This is the last big hiccup before the big tear.”

There was a flash of light, and they found themselves in the foyer of a version of St. Teilo’s that wasn’t on the verge of being knocked down.  The area was clean, with chairs along the walls and a large wooden check-in desk blocking the way into the hospital proper.  Two nurses bustled about the area, and Jack could see them and the patients waiting to be seen reacting to the effects of the time tear. 

“May I help you gentlemen?” Jack turned in the direction of the question, and a nun in an all-encompassing habit was staring up at him from just a few feet away, her sharp eyes at odds with her caring tone.

“No, thank you Sister,” Jack answered politely, giving her an innocent smile.  “We’re just here to visit someone.”

“They can help you up at the desk,” the sister answered, seemingly buying Jack’s act.  She nodded, crossed herself, and then suddenly she was gone, and the ruins of the hospital once again surrounded them.

“What the hell?” Owen exclaimed. 

“I don’t think hell had a lot to do with our visitor,” Jack couldn’t help but snark.

“You know what I mean!  I hate time jumps.”

Another couple of minutes passed, Jack getting antsier and antsier by the second.  The final tear would be happening soon, judging from the readings they were getting, and Ianto still hadn’t emerged.

Finally, he could wait no longer.

Jack stripped off his coat, handing it to Owen.  “I’m not your bloody butler,” he exclaimed, trying to give the coat back.

“I’m going after Ianto,” Jack said, not taking back the coat.  He indicated the garment.  “That would be anachronistic if something should happen and we get stuck back in 1918.”  He didn’t remove his gun, but then he doubted anyone would look close enough at the Webley to see anything wrong with it.

“And what are you planning on doing if you do get stuck?” Owen demanded.

Jack indicated his vortex manipulator.  “We can use this to get back.”

“But I thought that thing didn’t work!”

“I deliberately broke it,” he explained.  “I didn’t want the Master to get his hands on a working time machine.  It would have been disastrous if he had.  But it’s an easy fix; I just didn’t worry about it because I hadn’t planned on ever using it again.”  There might have been a time when Jack would have killed to have his wrist strap working once more, but now…now he wanted to spend every moment he could walking the slow path with Ianto.   “And, if for some reason it doesn’t work, then at least Ianto and I will live long enough to catch up with you all again.  I can’t let him get trapped by himself, Owen.”

The medic nodded, looking resigned.  “Yeah, I getcha.  Well, go on before I change my mind and decide to sedate you to keep you from going.”

“Get out of the building, Owen,”’ Jack ordered.  “We’ll meet you at the SUV.”

“You both better be back here!  I’m not gonna be the one to explain to Tosh why you got yourselves stuck!” 

The sensors began alarming ever louder than before, and Jack turned away from Owen, trusting his friend would leave as he’d commanded.  He took off running down the corridor that Ianto and Tommy had followed, the growing time energy now crackling against his exposed skin.  He pushed down the thought that he’d lied to Owen, although it was one by omission: while he could indeed fix his manipulator it would take several days to do so, leaving himself and Ianto stranded in the past for as long as it was not working.  After all, he’d wanted to make certain the Master wouldn’t just repair it if he got his grubby hands on it.  If he made it too easy…so Jack had deliberately locked all of the controls out, except for the ones Toshiko had managed to get working, and bringing the wrist strap back into full working order would take time. 

It really didn’t matter; Jack would make certain he and Ianto would arrive back just after Jack had entered St. Teilo’s.  No one but them would ever know just how long they’d been gone.

But there was no way in hell he was going to risk his mate being alone in the past.  Jack wouldn’t make Ianto live through the past ninety years all over again, not by himself.  All they’d need to do was stay out of the way, as difficult as that would be.

And so, Jack ran through the deserted hospital, hoping it was toward his mate.

The final wave of temporal energy blasted through St. Teilo’s, and Jack wanted to flinch away from the shockwave.  He managed to keep his feet as it swept past, although the pressure forced Jack to walk slowly, against the tide.

He found Ianto in one of the rooms off the corridor, the dragon curled up in a ball of misery on the floor.  Jack knelt beside him, running a hand over the small scales on his cheek, and a single eye opened to look up at him.  Jack gasped as he saw the gold swirling within them, obscuring the normal blue cat-like pupils. 

“Jack,” Ianto gasped, his usual rumbling voice weak and thin, “I can’t change back…”

“I’ve got you, don’t worry.”

“Time is tearing,” the dragon continued.  “It’s not stopping…”

“Tommy isn’t using the key.”  Jack wondered what had happened; what had caused the young soldier to not use the Rift Key they’d given him.  If he didn’t turn it, the world would tear itself apart.  “I need to get to him.”

Ianto moaned faintly.  “Hurts…”

“I know it does.”  Jack leaned over and kissed the dragon’s snout.  “I’m going to fix it.  Change back as soon as you can, alright?”

The large head nodded slightly, as the time-swamped eyes closed once more.

Jack got to his feet.  Tommy would have been in the ward, and he glanced around, trying to make sense of the constantly changing St. Teilo’s.  Time was overwhelming everything, and both the past and the present were fighting for dominance, making the walls pulsate between whole and broken at a rate that made Jack almost dizzy to watch.  He needed to find Tommy and get him to use the key before both time zones came fully into existence, because they simply couldn’t co-exist.

He took off down the opposite hallway, knowing that he would have passed the ward on his way in if it had been the way he had come.  It turned out to be simple to find, even with the building under the effects of the two time periods trying to be there at once. 

Patients were panicking, and the nurses and ward sisters simply couldn’t cope with the chaos that the time tears were causing.  Jack dodged past one frightened young woman and then almost collided with another as he searched for Tommy among the other soldiers in their beds, cowering under the horrific noise and the twisting reality about them.

If it was making Jack feel somewhat ill, he could imagine what it was doing to the patients, most of them already suffering shellshock.

He found Tommy a few beds down in the ward, sitting up and clutching his thin blanket to his chest.  He stared up at Jack with fear in his eyes…but no recognition.

Tommy not remembering anything of his time with Torchwood was actually the best thing that could have occurred, but not before he’d completed the mission.  He must have forgotten what to do with the key, judging from the fact that it was lying on his blanket-swathed lap, seemingly forgotten in all the hell going on around them.  It sounded as if there was a major storm going on outside…which wasn’t far wrong.  Time was tearing itself apart, and the thread they needed to stitch it back together was too shellshocked to know what to do.

“Hello, son,” Jack spoke quietly, trying not to spook Tommy any more than he already was. 

“Wh-who are you?” the young man asked tremulously.

“I’m here to help you.”  Jack glanced down at the key.  “Do you know what that is?”

Tommy shook his head in denial.

“It’s a key, and you have to use it.”  He only hoped it wouldn’t be too late.   His memories of this time simply weren’t helping him; they were as confused as time currently was. 

Tommy picked up the key.  “I’m scared,” he whispered, his hands shaking. 

“It’s all right,” Jack tried to soothe him.

It didn’t seem to be working.  “I’m a coward,” Tommy whimpered.  “That’s why I’m here.”

“No, you’re not a coward.”  Jack sat on the edge of the bed so he wouldn’t be looming over the terrified soldier.  “You are a brave young man, and it’s your duty to use that key.”

“But why?” he whined, his eyes scrunching up in pain.

Jack’s heart went out to the man…no, really just a boy, thrown into circumstances that would have terrified anyone.  He’d seen action, been shot at, witnessed horrible things…and then he was snatched up by Torchwood simply because of a fluke in the Rift, kept alive for one day at a time every year for ninety years, seeing people come and go while he remained. 

He could relate to that, actually.

“Because you’re the only one who can,” he answered.  “Tommy, there is a young woman who is counting on you…a beautiful woman who cares about you very deeply, and who would be here to help you if she could.  I know you don’t remember her, but to her you are a hero.  She will carry you with her always.”  Jack rested a hand on a trembling shoulder.  “You won’t recall Toshiko, but she will you, and she believes in you.”

He felt guilty about using Toshiko against him, but Tommy had cared for her.  Had loved her, but had never had a chance to be there with her, his own destiny looming over him like a boulder on a fraying rope.  There had to something of those feelings within him somewhere, and if Jack could tap into them…

He knew that turning the key himself would not heal the tear.  It had to be Tommy, the young man who was a paradox having lived whatever life he’d had during and after the war, and have been sleeping in the Torchwood Vault at the same time.  He was the needle that would stitch time back together and save the world.   It had to be Tommy or else this simply wouldn’t work.

Jack could not risk even touching the Rift Key.  His own body was flooded with temporal energy, since it was what was keeping him alive far beyond his span of years.  If he attempted to fix this himself, that vortex energy would corrupt the matrix, and it could only hasten the destruction to come.

He had to convince Tommy that using the key was the right thing to do.

“You said she’s beautiful?” he whispered, his eyes pleading as he looked at Jack.

“Oh yes, very beautiful.”

“Will I…will I get to see her some day?” 

There was so much hope in his gaze, that Jack wanted more than anything to lie to him, to tell him that yes, he would meet Toshiko, but he couldn’t.  “I’m sorry, but no,” he admitted.  “But if you turn that key, you will be saving her life.”

Tommy examined the ley closely.  Shaking fingers reached out for the turning mechanism, and Jack held his breath as the key was finally turned.

Golden light wafted up from inside of the key, and the twisting of time began to ebb.

Jack smiled.  “Well done, Tommy.  Well done indeed.”

The young soldier nodded, dropping the key into his lap.  “Thank you, Sir.”

“No…thank _you_.” 

With those final words, Jack stood.  He saluted Tommy, who returned it.  “It’s been an honor to know you, Private Brockless.”

“I’d say the same, Sir,” Tommy answered, a faint grin on his lips, “but I don’t know you.”

Jack didn’t have anything to say about that, so he spun on his heel to leave the ward.  Certainly Ianto would have been able to change back into his human form, with the healing of the tear in time.  They would have to hide somewhere while Jack repaired his vortex manipulator, and he hoped that wouldn’t take too long.

“Excuse me, Sir?”

He turned back to the young man in the bed. 

“Can you tell this Toshiko something for me?”  
  
“Of course I can.”

“Would you…would you tell her I did it for her, and that I wish I knew who she was?”

Jack nodded.  “I’d be happy to.”

Tommy slumped back into the bed, the Rift Key forgotten and half-buried under the blanket.  Either Gerald or Harriet would collect it, and make certain it got into the Archives to be used in the future. 

He was out of the ward and into the hallway before he realised that his memories had cleared.

Jack came to a complete stop, ignoring the ward nurse as she nearly ran into him.  He grinned like a maniac as things slotted into place, and his past reconciled with his present.

He knew exactly what he needed to do.

 

**********

****

**_19 July 1918_ **

****

The Torchwood agent known as Jack Harkness stared down at the sleeping soldier, looking like a child as he was curled in on himself, almost huddling under the blanket as if he didn’t want to be noticed. 

He didn’t look like much, but then Harkness had it on very good authority that that was not the case at all.

The agent stood there, silently watching the boy sleep, his mind going over what he knew about Private Tommy Brockless.  It wasn’t much; he was certain if he’d bothered to return to the Hub he could find out all sorts of things about him, but Harkness wouldn’t head back to report in unless he absolutely had to.  He played up his status as non-contracted as much as he was able to, because while he had to work for Torchwood at this time he didn’t have to like it.  Besides, he’d just gotten back from a mission behind enemy lines, and wanted to take some time to himself.  He might not know anything about Brockless, but the agent was certainly familiar enough with shellshock and other conditions like it, having seen it far too many times to count, in both this time and in the future. 

The soldier shifted, coming awake under Harkness’ scrutiny.  He blinked sleepily, and then awoke completely as he must have realised he wasn’t alone.  “Hello, Sir,” he said, sitting up and at attention as much as he could while lying in bed, and then saluting.  “Did it work?”

“Yes, it worked,” Harkness answered, only able to go by the knowledge that he had…which was something about saving the world even though he didn’t remember doing it.  He returned the salute.

He was favoured with a sunny smile.  “That’s great then, Sir.  I was proud to do my duty.”

This boy’s seeming faith in him tugged at something within Harkness, something that he’d long thought he’d set aside.  He considered what the message he’d received had said, and he returned the smile but kept it a bit dimmer.

“You’ve done your duty,” Harkness confirmed.  “And now it’s my turn to help you.”

The smile vanished.  “I’m not going back to the Front, am I?” he asked fearfully.

“No, son,” Harkness answered reassuringly.  “You will not be going back to the Front.  I promise you that.”

 


	10. Chapter 10

**_23 July 2008_ **

****

Toshiko made her way into the Hub, feeling like she was coming home.

It had been a wonderful week with Kathy.  Her family had accepted Toshiko with open arms, and had been asked to call them ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ after about three days.  Kathy had smirked and pointed out to her that she’d told Toshiko that she wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Alright, Toshiko _had_ been worried about meeting her partner’s family, and she conceded that Kathy had the right to say, “I told you so.”

As much of a good time she’d had, there had been the thought of Tommy in the back of her mind.  She’d felt guilty about not coming back when she’s learned that this was the time, that she wouldn’t see Tommy again, but had come to realise it really had been for the best even though she felt like a coward for avoiding him the way she had.  When Jack had called her to report that Tommy was, indeed, back in his own time, she’d wept for the young man who had been put through so much and had ended up saving the world.

“Toshiko!”

She grinned as Jack bounced out of his office and down toward her, grabbing her up into a hug that had him swinging her around, her feet coming off of the ground.  She couldn’t help but gasp, and then giggle as Jack put her down.   “Missed me, did you?” she teased.

“No, not at all,” he teased back, laughing. 

“Jack is a liar,” Ianto’s voice echoed up from the stairs leading down to the Archives.  The dragon had one of the largest grins on his face that Toshiko had ever seen.

She headed over to him, and he hugged her as well although not quite as enthusiastically as Jack had.  She couldn’t help but snuggle into his warmer than average human chest.  As much as she loved Jack, there was Ianto, her best friend and unofficial brother, and she’d missed him terribly.  “Missed you,” he murmured in her ear.

“Missed you too,” she answered.  She stepped back and he let her go.  “So, what’s been going on while I was away?”

“Oh no,” Jack said, waggling a finger at her. “We want details from you too, missy.  How did things go?”

“I’ve never seen you look this happy,” Ianto added, standing beside Jack.  They put their arms around each other in what looked like an unconscious gesture. 

If she was happy, it was only because her Captain and her Dragon were happy as well.  They’d shown her that it was alright to fall in love, to be with someone, and to want for it to be forever. 

She didn’t say that, however.  Instead, she simply grinned slyly and waggled her own finger back at them.  “Oh, no…I know exactly what details you want, Jack Harkness, and those you aren’t getting!”

Jack pouted melodramatically, and Ianto snorted while trying to keep in his laughter.  “She’s got your number,” the dragon commented, his eyes sparkling.

“And she refuses to use it!” Jack moaned, putting a hand over his heart and reeling back as if mortally wounded.

“And here I actually wanted to come back to this madhouse,” Toshiko laughed.  Oh, she had really missed them.

Then she noticed one of their team missing.  “Where’s Owen?”  She knew he wasn’t due to start his own vacation until next week

Jack actually flinched.  “He’s not happy with either of us at the moment.”

“No,” Ianto corrected, “he’s not happy with _you_ at the moment.”  He shook his head.  “Why don’t you and Tosh head up to your office, and I’ll bring coffee.  We can explain, and let her know about Tommy.”

“Yes, please.”  Toshiko had missed Ianto’s coffee; Kathy’s Mum’s had tasted like sludge, but everyone seemed to have enjoyed it…well, except for Toshiko herself, and Kathy, who knew exactly what good coffee tasted like since she’d had Ianto’s the first time.

Toshiko followed Jack up the steps, very curious as to what had been going on while she’d been gone.  A sudden thought struck her: did this happen to do with Tommy?    Had something happened that they hadn’t called to tell her about? 

“Hey,” Jack said, touching her elbow.  “You okay?”

She shook her head to clear it.  “Where is Owen hiding, anyway?”

Jack snorted.  “He’s not hiding.  He went out to run some errands.  He’ll be back soon, and he’ll be mad that he wasn’t here when you arrived.  He really has been missing you as much as we have.”

He steered her toward the guest chair, and Toshiko sat was Jack headed around his desk and took his own seat.  “I’m sure you want to know why Owen’s mad at me, and how things went with Tommy.”

“You’re right,” she said. 

“Well, they’re linked in a way,” Jack admitted.  He reached into one of his desk drawers, pulling out a file folder.  “You might want to see this first.”  He handed it over to her.  “These are the sealed orders that were left for us concerning Tommy.”

Toshiko opened the file, really wanting to know what Torchwood Three had had to say.  She frowned as she read the notes explaining about Tommy and the Rift Key he’d needed to fix the tear in time; she was familiar with the technology, and knew that they’d kept such a device in the Archives. 

The papers didn’t say a thing about what had happened to Tommy after he’d used the key.  He had to have used it; otherwise the world would have ended while she and Kathy had been in Newport. 

And then she saw the sketch.

Toshiko gasped as she stared at the likeness of her friend drawn on the foolscap that old-time Torchwood had been fond of using.  She looked up at Jack; he nodded at her unspoken question.  “Yes, it was as much a shock to me as it was to Ianto.”

“But didn’t you remember anything about that time?”

“Not a thing. See, my memories were in flux due to time being in the same state of flux.  I honestly didn’t recall, and Gerald and Harriet had never said a thing about seeing a dragon at St. Teilo’s.”  He jerked his chin toward the papers in her hand.  “There’s a letter in there from Gerald disapproving of a dragon being a member of Torchwood, although he swore neither he nor Harriet would say anything out of deference for the time lines.”

Toshiko read it, and she couldn’t help the growl that escaped her.  “I’m glad I didn’t live back then.”

“Yeah, Torchwood was all beholden to One, and you followed the party line or else,” Jack admitted.  “I’m just glad I was non-contracted at the time.  It meant I could come and go almost as I pleased, as long as I came back or at least reported in.  If I didn’t they would have hunted me down like a wild animal.  I was very much theirs at that point.”

“Plus you were waiting for the Doctor.”

“Yes, there’s that too.”  Jack rubbed his face tiredly.  “But all that’s changed now.”  He sighed.  “Ianto had a minor freak-out when he saw that sketch.”

He told her that her friend had automatically assumed that his appearance back in the past had triggered a dragon hunt that had led to Torchwood to Lisa, and Toshiko’s heart went out to Ianto.  “I take it you managed to calm him down,” she said.

“He did,” Ianto’s voice had her turning in her seat.  The dragon had his favourite silver tray in hand, with three steaming mugs on it.  He stepped forward, giving her one and it was all that Toshiko could do to control herself and stop from making ‘gimme hands’.  “Jack pointed out several things that I didn’t consider in my hurry to blame myself for something that I didn’t have anything to do with.”

There was a shadow behind Ianto’s eyes, and Toshiko wondered if he truly was completely over his emotional upset.  She determined to ask him about it later.

She took a deep breath, the scent of very good coffee wafting through her nasal passages.  Toshiko sighed, “Now I know I’m home…I have a cup of Ianto’s finest in hand.”  She took a sip, sighing once more. 

Then she glanced at both of her friends.  Jack had his nose practically in his own mug, but at least he wasn’t making one of his usual pornographic noises.  Ianto leaned against the edge of the desk, the tray tucked down against his shin, his own coffee held almost negligently in one hand.  He was smiling, looking at Jack with a fond expression on his face.   Ianto wore his emotions on his sleeve, and there were times when Toshiko wanted to protect him, even though he was much bigger and older than she was.

Well, she supposed, that was what family did.

“So,” she said, once she’d drunk about half of her mug, “are you going to explain just how the dragon ended up back in 1918?  And what does this have to do with Tommy?”  She was worried about him, even though either of her companions didn’t seem upset or anything about the subject.

Jack and Ianto glanced at one another, and Jack gave a nearly imperceptible nod.  That must have given Ianto permission to take up the tale, and he explained to her about his sensitivity to the tear that had formed and how it had overloaded him, forcing him to change into his dragon form in front of Tommy, and where Gerald Carter and Harriet Derbyshire could find him.

“I should have foreseen that,” she said, angry at herself for not putting the tear and Ianto’s Rift sensitivity together. 

“How could you?” Jack asked.  “I mean, we all knew that Ianto could sense changes in the Rift, but we’ve never experienced anything like that tear before.  We had no experience at all to draw on.”

“Next time we’ll know,” Ianto added confidently.  “If there is a next time.”

“But anyway,” Jack went on, “now it comes to the reason Owen’s pissed off at us.”

“At you,” Ianto corrected.

Jack rolled his eyes.  “Okay, at me.”

“See, Jack decided to go in after me.”

“And I found Ianto curled up, in pain and unable to change back into his human form.”

“I should have been there –“

“No, Tosh,” Ianto denied, shaking his head.  “You were right where you should have been.”

“And we want pictures,” Jack grinned, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I even brought souvenirs,” she returned the grin.  She thought of her bag, sitting on the floor.  

“Awesome!”

“Jack,” the dragon pinned his mate with a horrified stare, “did you just use the word, ‘awesome’?”

Jack looked completely unapologetic.  “I may have…why do you ask?”

Toshiko couldn’t help it; she laughed.  “I swear, you two…”

“Anyway,” Jack went on, “We realised there was something going on, that Tommy wasn’t using the key.  So there was only one thing I could do: go into the ward and convince him to use it since I couldn’t use it myself.”

Toshiko nodded.  “The temporal harmonics would have been disrupted if it had been anyone else but Tommy.” 

“Yeah, that.”  Jack hand-waved the scientific explanation away, but Toshiko knew he understood perfectly well what she’d said.  Jack Harkness knew more about time than anyone she’d ever met…perhaps more than anyone currently on 21st Century Earth.   “When I reached Tommy, it was evident that he’d completely forgotten everything he’d seen or been told about the future.  He’d even forgotten that he needed to use the key.”

“There was some seismic activity in the area of Newport,” she mused.  “I didn’t think about it at the time, but that had to have been the temporal energy spiralling out from the Rift before you managed to get Tommy to use the key.”  She smiled.  “But you did, and the world is saved once more.”  _Thanks to Tommy,_ she didn’t have to add; her brave soldier. 

“Only after some convincing,” Jack admitted.  “And…I may have mentioned you…not that he really remembered you, but just knowing that someone depended on him was enough to get him to open the key.  I hated to manipulate him like that…”

Toshiko felt tears building, and she attempted to blink them away.  “You did what you had to do.  I understand completely.”  Maybe she should have been there after all.  Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a close call if she’d come back…

“Don’t even think what you’re thinking, Toshiko Sato,” Ianto ordered, shaking his finger at her.  “Coming back here wouldn’t have solved anything.  What would you have done differently?  Would you have trapped yourself in the past, trying to save the world?  There was no way any of us would have allowed you to do that.”

She had to smile, but she knew it was a pitiful thing.  “Are you sure you’re not a mind reader, Ianto?”

The dragon shrugged.  “More like expression reader.  It was written all over your face that you were regretting not coming back.”

“You deserve your own life,” Jack added.  “You and Kathy are good for each other, and if you’d stayed it would have only led to awkwardness and you know it.  It was best that you be gone for this.”

“It was just bad luck that this was the time Tommy had to go back home,” Ianto added.  “Because we certainly would have arranged with Kathy to get you away next year, too.”

Toshiko loved them both, knowing that they were always trying to take care of her.  Yet, at the same time, they let her stand on her own two feet and make her own decisions…well, unless they were in collusion with Kathy over something.  “So what happened next?” she asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.

“Well, nothing much,” Jack said.  “The tear was stitched closed, Ianto was able to change back to human, and we came home.”

She got the distinct impression that this wasn’t the entirety of events.  “Yes, but that doesn’t explain why Owen is mad at you.”

“How do you know it has to do with what happened with Tommy?” Jack tried to gloss over things.

Toshiko crossed her arms and gave her boss and friend her best glare.  “I do recall someone mentioning that what did happen was linked to why Owen’s being angry with you.”

Jack looked a bit shifty.  But, before he could open his mouth and insert his foot, Ianto said, “Jack may have lied to Owen when he went into St. Teilo’s to find me.” 

“He wouldn’t have had any clue about that if you hadn’t said anything!” Jack exclaimed.

Ianto ignored him.  “Jack told Owen that we would be right out once he found me, but that wasn’t what occurred at all.”

Toshiko was confused for approximately three seconds before she realised what Ianto was saying.  “You were both trapped back in the past, weren’t you?”  Then she gasped as the ramifications hit her.  “You lived through all those years, waiting for the right time to come back!”

“Oh no!” Jack denied.  “See, I had this.”  He tapped his wrist strap. 

“But it doesn’t work!”  She should know; she’d tried to repair it during the Year of the Toclafane.

“Well, yeah…because I disabled it so the Master wouldn’t be able to use it if he got his hands on it.  I knew I’d be able to fix it fairly easily.”

“It only took him six months,” Ianto added, smirking. 

“It was 1918!  The tools I had to work with were impossibly primitive!”  Jack grimaced.  “Now I know what Spock meant by ‘stone knives and bearskins’ in that one _Star Trek_ episode.”

“We did arrive back a few moments after the tear was fixed,” Ianto conceded.  “But I had no idea that Jack had informed Owen when he went in that it wouldn’t take long to come back.  So, when I mentioned it had been six months…”

Toshiko snorted.  “Yes, I can see why Owen would be mad at you, Jack.  I would have been, too.”

“I was pretty positive that we wouldn’t get stuck,” Jack tried to convince her.  “And really, if we’d had to travel back the slow way, both Ianto and I would have been fine.”

“That’s not really the point,” she said.  “We’re family…and family doesn’t want their members to risk stuff like that without being told upfront what might go wrong.”

Jack did manage to look contrite, but Toshiko knew him too well.  He would think he’d done the right thing, but then he would do anything for Ianto, up to and including dying.  It didn’t matter that he would come back; even if he was human he’d do the exact same thing.  This was Jack Harkness, despite him being a self-proclaimed conman and criminal.  Toshiko knew he was a decent human being, one that would protect his family and his mate no matter what. 

She decided a change of subject was worthwhile, and Toshiko really wanted to know what had happened to Tommy.  “You said he forgot everything?”

Jack nodded.  “He didn’t know who I was.  It…was for the best, really.  He could live his life without recalling what he’d been put through.”

“Did he?  Live, I mean,” she asked, point-blank.  “Or was he sent back to the Front?” Toshiko shivered; she hoped that wasn’t the case.  She’d never been able to find out if Tommy had come out of the unscathed; there were literally no records of a Tommy Brockless after the events at St. Teilo’s, and she had searched everywhere she could think of.

“No, Toshiko,” Jack answered, smiling warmly.  “Tommy wasn’t sent back.”

“But how do you know?” she asked hectically, unable to hope yet that Jack was telling her the truth, even though she knew he wouldn’t lie to her about something this important.   “You said you didn’t remember.”

“I didn’t,” he confessed.   “But once the timelines settled down everything came back to me.  I know exactly what happened to Tommy…because I’m the one who helped him.”

Toshiko couldn’t help the smile that broke across her face.  “You mean, while you and Ianto were there?”

“No.”  Once again, he lifted his arm to reveal his vortex manipulator.  “I used this and sent myself a message.”

“Your past self?”

“Yep.  I had been back in Cardiff for a couple of days after coming back from the Front myself, when this thing had beeped.  It claimed to be a message from my future self, explaining about Tommy and asking myself to help him in any way I could.”  Jack sighed.  “I admit, I wasn’t in a good place back then.  I’d been with Torchwood for nearly fifty years, and I was losing hope that I’d ever find the Doctor again.  But there was something about Tommy…I think meeting him helped me for a while, because here was someone who needed help, and being Torchwood’s whipping boy had done a good job of grinding me down.  So, I did what my future self – me, now – had asked.  I got Tommy out of the hospital and managed to get him settled in a small village on the western coast.  I changed his name, and he lived his life up there, with family and friends.”

Ianto was nodding.  “We researched him under his new name, after we got back.  Tommy lived to be eighty-six, and he died surrounded by his children and grandchildren.”  He stood upright and reached for another file on Jack’s desk, handing it to Toshiko.

Within the file was a photo of Tommy, a lovely brunette beside him, and three children; two boys and a girl.  He looked so very happy, and tears once again threatened. 

“That was taken in 1932,” Jack explained.  “His wife was named Catherine, and their children were Robert, William…and the little girl was named Toshiko.” 

“He might not have known who you were anymore,” Ianto said softly, “but somewhere inside him he realised you were important to him.”

Toshiko couldn’t help it; she began to cry, happy tears for the young man who could have been something special to her under different circumstances.  She felt arms go around her, and she leaned into Ianto, letting everything out that she had been holding inside; Jack on the other side, his own arms hugging her as well.

She didn’t cry long, but it was enough to finally let her emotions settle.  Toshiko put her arms around them both, thanking them for the comfort. 

“It’s no problem, Tosh,” Ianto said, smiling.   

The photo was still in her hand, and she pulled it around Jack so she could look at it again.  “Anything else you’d like to share?” she asked.

Jack stepped away, but leaned against the front of the desk.  “Tommy married Catherine in 1920.  She was their village midwife, and she had the distinction of never having lost a patient, either mother or child.  There were rumours that she was a healer, but there’s no proof of that, although knowing what I know now about magic I won’t dismiss it.  Their sons both went into the military and fought with distinction in World War Two.  In fact, William was actually in a flight crew I flew with, although I didn’t know who he was at the time.  I honestly think my memories didn’t fully settle until the tear closed.  Then it all came back to me.”

“Toshiko started going by her middle name when Japan declared war,” Ianto went on.  “You can understand why.”

Yes, she could.  It would have been a bad time to have a Japanese name, and she couldn’t blame the young woman for it.  “What was it?”

“Grace,” Jack answered.  “She married a man named Alun Hale, and they had a daughter…named Brenda.”

“Her grandson actually lives in Cardiff,” Ianto replied.  He looked quite pleased with the news.

Toshiko glanced between the two, both of them looking like a pair of bookends as they leaned against Jack’s desk, looking as if they had the best secret ever.  “Are you going to tell me?” she asked, exasperated.  While she was glad that Tommy had lived a long, happy life and had had a wonderful family, she discovered that she wanted to see the end result of that life.  And, if there was a great-grandson out there, then she at least needed to see him with her own eyes.

“You’ve met him, in point of fact,” Ianto answered.  “His name is Rhys Williams.”

 


End file.
